W, -tfix. %crtM^ j^ ^ Cto!- 
 
aass„_E_iAl^ 
 
 Book 
 
 .1^1 
 
A DISCOURSE 
 
 DELIVERED BEFORE THE SOCIETY 
 
 FOR THE 
 
 COMMEMORATION OF THE LANDING 
 
 OF 
 
 ON THE SlTH OF OCTOBER, 1835, 
 
 BY C. J. INGERSOliL, Es<i. 
 
 Tu spiegherai, Columbo, a un nuovo polo 
 Lontane ti le fortunate antenne, 
 Ch'appena segfan-^ con gli occhi i) volo 
 La Fama,' h'ha mille ochi e inille penne, 
 Canti ella Alcide e Bacco, e di te Solo 
 Basti a' poster! tuoi oh'alquaoto acoenne .; 
 Ch^ quel poco dar^ lunga memoria 
 Di poema degnissima e d'Istona. 
 
 Tasso, Gents. Lib. Canto XV. 
 
 PUBLISHED BY REQUEST OF THE SOCIETV, 
 
 PHILADELPHIA. 
 
 PUBLISHED BY R. H. jtMALl- 
 
 1825. 
 
4-4, 
 
 Sri 
 
 B um Ainjrtn'ms 
 

 AT a Meeting of" The Society for the Com- 
 memoration of the Landing of WILLIAM PEJ^K^ " 
 held on the 2^th of October 1825, 
 
 Resolved that the thanks of the Society be given 
 to Mr. IJVGERSOLL, for his eloquent and instruc- 
 tive discourse pronounced this day ; and that he 
 be requested to furnish a copy for publication. 
 
 Extract from the Minutes. 
 
 T. I. WHARTON, 
 
 Recording Secretary. 
 
A DISCOURSE, &c. 
 
 The memory of Penn might suggest recol- 
 lections of the flourishing Commonwealth that 
 bears his name ; indeed of the great Empire of 
 which Pennsylvania is the heart. But the City of 
 his foundation will afford materials enough for my 
 humble exposition of his principles, according to 
 the design of this Society to commemorate them : 
 and I trust that the subject will not prove an un- 
 profitable or improper one. Let us then devote this 
 Aniiiveisary of Penn's advent, to a review of his 
 providence, and celebration of his virtues, by a 
 brief selection of the most remarkable indications 
 of Philadelphia.* 
 
 * In a letter of the 5th of January, 1681, he thus characteris- 
 tically expresses himself: — "This day, after many waitings, 
 watchings, solicitings, and disputes, in Council, my country was 
 confirmed to me under the Great Seal of England ; with large 
 powers and privileges, by the name of Pennsylvania — a name 
 
 B 
 
It is 143 years this day since the landing, which 
 was soon followed by the purchase on peace- 
 able and generous terms, of the site of what then 
 was called the great town : whether from the In- 
 dians, or certain Swedish proprietors, is not quite 
 certain. Since then, 1,300,000 civilised people have 
 become inhabitants of Pennsylvania, of whom one 
 hundred and forty thousand reside in Pliiladelphia: 
 tiie number of the latter increasing at the rate of 
 rather more than two thousand a year ; and thus 
 affording one ot'lhe strongest among the received 
 tests of general happiness. As many, or more 
 dwellings, stores, factories, and public edifices, 
 are building this year as in any year since the be- 
 ginning. In every direction over an area of se- 
 veral miles, substantial homesteads have been 
 put up, mostly oT tlie size and construction that 
 
 the King would give it in liouour of my father. I chose New 
 Wales, being a hilly country : and when the Secretary, a Welch- 
 man, refused to call it New Wales, I proposed Sylvania, and 
 they added Penn to it: though 1 much opposed it, and went 
 to the King to have it struck out. He said t'was past, and he 
 would take it upon hin^: nor could twenty guineas move the 
 under Secretary to vary the name: for I feared it should be 
 looked on as a vanity in me, and not as a respect in the King 
 to my father, as it really was. Thou may'st communicate my 
 grant to Friends, and expect shortly my proposals. 'Tis a dear 
 and just thing, and my God that has given it me through many 
 tlitlicultics, will, 1 believe, bless and make it the sef^d of a na- 
 tion. 1 shall have a tendei care to the government that it be 
 well' laid at first.", 
 
belona: to neither poverty nor riches, but that com- 
 petent class which is the substance of every state. 
 All of thetn have been reared from the lumber 
 of our own woods, the marbles and bricks of our 
 own immediate neighbourhood, the cement, and, 
 principally, the iron, of our own soil and work- 
 manship. The ship-yards on the Delaware arc 
 building upwards of ten thousand five hundred 
 tons of shipping ; being actively employed in the 
 construction of vessels, to go by steam and by sail, 
 of every denomination, from the larp;est sdip of 
 war in the world, through every kind of com- 
 mercial to the SMiallest river craft. The wharves 
 on the Schuylkill — of whose importance Penn's 
 view^s are about to be realised at this late period 
 — are for the first time resorted to by burthensome 
 vessels from over sea, for freights of that ines- 
 timable fuel contributed by the mother earth of 
 Pennsylvania, in a mineral more valuable than 
 the precious metals. Poured in for consum|)tion 
 and exportation, as it is, from the shores of the 
 Lehigh and the Susquehanna, as well as the 
 Schuylkill, when we advert to what the coal trade 
 alone has done for the port of London, it is not 
 fanciful to anticipate revolutions in commerce, 
 manufactures, and capital, which it is destined 
 to bring about here. The first large substan- 
 tial brick store, if I am not mistaken, is now 
 raising on the margin of tlie Schuylkill, within 
 
8 
 
 the city of Philadelphia : and I hardly consider 
 it visionary to regard this store as marking; an 
 sera in the providence of V*enn, and the pros- 
 perity of Pennsylvania. Public conception is 
 not yet awakened to this vital resource, just 
 emerging from the bosom of the State : and we 
 do not foresee its effects on manufactures and 
 commerce, while considering it merely as a sub- 
 stitute for wood for our consumption as fuel. 
 Even in that limited view it is sufficiently impor- 
 tant, when we reckon three hundred thousand 
 cords of wood, at five dollars a cord, hauled, cut 
 and put away, or one mihion five hundred thou- 
 sand dollars, as tlie annual consun)ption of Phila- 
 delphia Estimating ten bushels of antiiracite 
 coal to l)e equal to one cord of good oak wood, 
 the annual consumption would be three millions 
 of bushels, which, at 25 cents each, amount to 
 S750,000 ; thus saving that sum to this city, by 
 the substitution of coal for wood. This, however, 
 is a ver)*limited view. When we advert to the 
 fact, that almost every part of Pennsylvania 
 ahounds with every variety of this fossil, and with 
 all kinds of iron ores, wanting nothing but facili- 
 ties for transportation to market, a vast increase 
 of manufactures, of coasting atid foreign trade, and 
 of homebred seamen for our commercial and mi- 
 litary marine, must be perceived as the natural 
 offspring. The modern experience of England 
 
proves this to be no sanguine expectation. In it^ 
 effects on the manufactures, commerce, wealth, 
 and power of Great Britain, and parliculaily the 
 port of London, tlie coal trade has transcended 
 all calculation. In 1824, the city of London im- 
 poJted 40,301,304 bushels, or 1,531, 541 tons oi 
 coal, conveyed in 5160 voyages of vessels ol 
 from 200 to 300 tons each. At times within the 
 last ten years, the coal trade of London has been 
 accounted the most, if not the only, lucrative 
 branch of the commerce of that gieat port. As 
 a nursery of seamen, it may render Philadelphia 
 equal to Nantucket. Pittsburgh and Pliiladelphia 
 are the keys to a region enjoying in coal and iron, 
 advantages over any other in the world, which 
 cannot fail to develop the most extensive manu- 
 factures and commerce : and from which it is by 
 no means extravagant to imagine Pennsylvania 
 ultimately, as it were, one vast town, inhabited by 
 ten millions of industrious people. 
 
 The banks of the Delaware, the Schuylkill, the 
 Brandywine, with all their tributary streams of 
 this neighbourhood, are planting with manufiic- 
 tories of cotton and woollen, fur, lumber, iron, 
 grain, and the various other staples of the coun- 
 try. The environs of Philadelphia are literally 
 enlivened by the music of shuttles — the music 
 of domestic employment, public wealth, individual 
 and national independence. The shops and stores 
 
10 
 
 are filled with home manufactures ; some of 
 them sparklins; with the most beautiful master- 
 works of silver, cutlery, and glass ; others con- 
 stantly replenishing with the materials of comfort 
 in constant request ; all of them gradually, but 
 permanently supplanting those for which tribute 
 money is paid to foreigners. In maimlactures, as 
 in many things, q<jantity is part of the wages of 
 quality, and the increase of those of this country, 
 is not more obvious than their atiielioration. 
 Twelve years aa;o gr^nit distress was experienced 
 from absolute want of ai tides of the first neces- 
 sity, their usual supj)ly bom abroad being cut off 
 by war wit > the great mart of them. Since that 
 second edition of American Independence, the 
 cause of tbeir increase is perceptible l)y every one, 
 in the improvements that have taken place in the 
 houses, shipping, pleasure carriages, cloathing of 
 every kind, furniture, cabinet, silver, and plated 
 ware, writing and hanging-papers, glass, cutlery, 
 and many other things, of which, it is very proba- 
 ble, I omit the enumeration. Not only the tex- 
 ture, sul)stance, and durabihty, but the style, taste, 
 finish, and elegance of all these fabrics, are strik- 
 ing to any observation. In elegance and fashion 
 they commonly approach, often surpass, the Eu- 
 ropean standards. A person may now be as 
 cheaply and well dressed, in domestic, as in fo- 
 reign manufactures, including flannel, muslin, cot- 
 
11 
 
 ion, woollen, cloth, casimere, leather, fur, metal, 
 and every other article of cloathing. Carriages 
 of all kinds for pleasure and burthen are made 
 in Philadelphia in great numhers, for use here, 
 and for exportation, equal in appearance and con- 
 venience to any made in Europe ; without a sin- 
 gle material that is not manufactured here. Some 
 of our cotton goods are already preferred in fo- 
 reign markets. Our fine writing paper is more 
 approved than the English in Asia, notwithstand- 
 ing their habitual ascendancy there. Our wool- 
 lens are more substantial, having more wool and 
 better wool in them. In the noblest of all manu- 
 factures, the finest ships that float, whether for 
 war or peace, Europe cannot compare with the 
 ship-wr'ghts of Philadelphia. 
 
 The foreign commerce oi Philadelphia is stea- 
 dily advancing on durable foundations. In ad- 
 dition to bread stuffs, hitherto the most conside- 
 rable domestic article of exportation, the shipping 
 of the poi t is freighted with productions of na- 
 tional industry. The commercial and manufac- 
 turing guilds are apt to fear each others prosperity; 
 — but Great Biitain has risen on their union to 
 astonishing opulence ; and in Philadelphia they 
 certainly thiive together. The imports of this 
 port have increased only S30,768 in the last 
 three years — t)eing Si 3,3 4^0,310 in 1833, and 
 St 3.3(10,978 in 1835: whereas the exports have 
 
13 
 
 increased iSi,74l,969 in the same period; be- 
 ing 8.765,987 in 1823, and iS 10,507,956 in 
 1825. In 1833 the value exported in foreign 
 vessels was S548,987 ; this year it is but Z7C\757 
 giving a difference of 8473,330 transferred to our 
 own vessels. The outstanding registered tonnasie 
 of Philadelphia, in 1833 was 54,613 : in 1835 it 
 is 59,573, an increase of 4960 tons. The en- 
 rolled and licensed coasting tonnage in 1833 was 
 31,813 — in 1835 it is 35,473, an increase of 3660. 
 The licensed vessels under twenty tons, in 1833 
 amounted to a tonnage of 3103 ;in 1835 it is 3496. 
 The impost in 1833 was S3,6 4-6,435 — in 1834 
 84,303,797. This year it amounts to 85,334.993; 
 an increase of nearly two millions in three years. 
 Only an inconsiderable portion of this prosjressive 
 improvement is ascribable to the new tariff. The 
 prime commodities, wines, teas, spirits, sugar, 
 coffee, and many other articles are unaffected by 
 it. And as a steady advancement in all the ob- 
 jects of commercial industry is indicated by these 
 details, it may he assumed as substantial. The 
 establishment of several lines of packets, has no 
 doubt contributed essentially to improve the com- 
 merce and navigation of Philadelphia, which in 
 their turn stimulate industry and enterprise in 
 every branch of business. 
 
 The navy.yard is of great importance to Phila- 
 delphia by its constant demand for a large quan- 
 
13 
 
 tity and variety of materials and manufactures ; 
 and by not only employing but improving nume- 
 rous mechanics in all the arts connected with the 
 construction and equipment of vessels of war. Its 
 location is peculiarly favourable as a naval depot 
 and building-yard, secure from hostile incursions, 
 from the more to be dreaded ravages of sea-worms, 
 and from animal and vegetable substances, which in 
 salt water, are extremely detrimental to ships. The 
 finest and cheapest ships in the service have been 
 built at this yard. The superintendant of it with 
 a professional ardour, the pledge of excellence, 
 performed a voyage to England at his own ex- 
 pense, to examine the master-works of that king- 
 dom ; where he was admitted to the dock-yards 
 and naval arsenals, with magnanimous liberality, 
 under the introduction of our townsman and mi- 
 nister there, who thinks that few, if any, of the 
 public ministers, from America to Europe have 
 rendered more valuable services to their country 
 than this enterprising ship-wright. 
 
 A disciple of Penn might remark, that what 
 have been called the golden days of the com- 
 mercial prosperity of this country, cost it several 
 wars ; at least two hundred millions of dollars ; 
 of which a large amount still remains due, in fund- 
 ed debt, and many millions in the more odious 
 medium of demands for spoliations on foreign 
 powers. Perhaps we have had equivalents for 
 C 
 
all this bloodshed and treasure. But a rational 
 regret may be indulged that some small part of 
 the expenditure has not been b( stowed on less 
 ostentatious but more substantial obiects. With- 
 in a short period tlie navigation of the Delaware 
 has been facilitated by the erection of a light-house 
 on Cape May ; a beacon-light, on the pitch of 
 Cape Henlopen ; two floating lights in the bay of 
 Delaware, and a permanent light on fort Delaware. 
 Several huridred thousand dollars have been dis- 
 bursed in the construction of that fortress. But 
 the chamber of commerce of this city have ear- 
 nestly urged an improvement which is yet in the 
 mere beginning of its consideration. In July 
 1823, skilful officers appointed by the government 
 of the union, repoited plans for a break- water at 
 the mouth of the Delaware where there are great 
 natural advantasies for such a work. The com- 
 plete success of similar improvements at Ply- 
 mouth in Ensiland, and Cherbourg in France leave 
 no doubt of the success of it here. The plan re- 
 ported may be completed at a cost of 83,3-^6,000, 
 so as to afford a harbour and perfect shelter, for 
 the vast coasting trade of the Atlantic board; to 
 save property and lives to an incalculable amount, 
 and to protect that commerce, which is the most 
 important source of the strength and wealth of 
 this country. One half of the tithe of the war- 
 like expenditure, would afford this magnificent 
 
id 
 
 safe-guard. Without lamenting the charges of fo- 
 reign commerce and war, but on the contrary, 
 glorying in the national wealth, grandeur, cha- 
 racter and security they have estal)lished, we may 
 be allowed to hope that hereafter, more care will 
 be taken of the citadel without abandoning any of 
 the outworks. 
 
 The primary arts and sciences of necessity 
 and usefulness, husbandry, building, commerce and 
 manufactures have advanced to a state of perfec- 
 tion to be compared with the oldest and most re- 
 lined nations. But an opinion or apprehension 
 prevails that our political meridian is not adapted 
 to the luxuries of architecture, sculpture, painting 
 and music. Doubts have indeed been expressed 
 as to polite literature also. The modern repub- 
 lics of Italy, in which all the fine arts began and 
 flourished to the highest degree, are historical re- 
 futations of this disparagement. The anc ent re- 
 pul)lics teem with redeeming arguments for our 
 consolation ; and the short career of this country, 
 of this city, is the best practical proof that libe?ty 
 and equality are the most poweriul protectors of 
 every art :uid science. 
 
 The acadeniy of Fine Arts has ripened under 
 the culture of its zealous and indefatigable Presi- 
 dent to become an eminent school and collection 
 of paintings, statuary, engravings and models of 
 which all liberal and qualilied foreigners speak 
 
16 
 
 with applause. It has amassed a property of about 
 S;30,000 ; and has an income from visitors of 
 about Si 000 a year. S3.'500 were paid for a sin- 
 gle picture in it from the pallet of an American 
 painter. JVt the last annual exhibition, pictures 
 were shewn by near fifty American painters in 
 history, portrait, landscape, and miniature; some 
 pf them of an eminence acknowleds:ed in Lon- 
 don as well as Philadelphia. Engravins;, sculp- 
 ture, and architecture, were likewise represented 
 there by the prints, busts, and models of our own 
 artists. Some of the most masterly works, both 
 on canvass and in marble displayed there, it is 
 due to him to mention, belong to a personage, 
 who, after wearing the crowns of two of the most 
 ancient kingdoms of Europe, resides in and near 
 Philadelphia, enjoying in exile the respect of the 
 inhabitants; /reefi? (in the language of one of Penn's 
 early letters) from the anxious and troublesome so- 
 licitations^ hurries and perplexities of woeful Eu- 
 rope. To another prince of the same illustrious 
 family we owe a recent pubhcation in this city 
 of the most splendid specimens of the arts of de- 
 sign, engraving, paper-making, printing and book- 
 binding. 
 
 > Among the nmny distinguished painters with 
 whom England has been supplied by this country, 
 the founder of the English school of historical 
 painting went from Philadelphia. The well known 
 
17 
 
 picture presented by him to the Pennsylvania 
 Hospital affords some curious particulars. It is 
 exhibited in a house built and appropriated for 
 that sole purpose, at a cost of nearly Sl4,000 ; 
 which is probably more than ever was bestowed 
 elsewhere on the apartment of a single picture : 
 and the avails of its exhibition during seven years 
 amount to nearly 817,000, received from up- 
 wards of sixty-two thousand persons who have 
 paid to see it. 
 
 There are also some respectable private col- 
 lections of paintings : besides that of the person- 
 age before alluded to, which is on a scale of re- 
 gal and Italian excellence. 
 
 The churches, hospitals, banks, theatres, and 
 other public buildings of Philadelphia bespeak no 
 lack of either enterprise or taste in architecture. 
 The dwelling houses are remarkable for sym- 
 metry and convenience. That ancient and pecu- 
 liar people, the Jews, exempted from the humi- 
 liation which characterises their existence in 
 Europe, have lately erected a synagogue of a very 
 neat and apposite design. Many, probably most, 
 of the ornamental places of worship recently built 
 in this city, were endowed from the singular 
 resource — unknown wherever liberty is not the 
 parent of eloquence — of the oratorical attractions 
 of their zealous pastors ; whose discourses have 
 literally raised the means for constructing manv 
 
18 
 
 beautiful edifices dedicated to the service of the 
 Ahnighty. If in his order the spirits of the just 
 made perfect in a better world are permitted to 
 enjoy a knowledge of this, conceive the ineffable 
 gratification of the immortal founder of that re- 
 ligious tolerance which, since he proclaimed it in 
 Philadelphia has extended throughout so much of 
 Christendom, when he perceives its divine bene- 
 iits in this land of his promise. Sects as number- 
 less as their rites are various living together in 
 perfect social harmony : from the gorgeous and 
 mysterious adoration of the oldest, in the midst 
 of incense, imagery, symphonies and sacraments, 
 through every refinement of reformation, to the 
 plain meeting of the people of his own persua- 
 sion, in sublimated silence and spirituality, without 
 psalmody, sacrament or ceremony. All, how- 
 ever, differing in forms, an immortalised being 
 might say, teaching the morality of the same 
 scriptures, and the necessity of that morahty for 
 a sanction here and future salvation. They do 
 not torture, burn and butcher each other : but live 
 together in charity and peace : and spontaneous 
 Christianity, diversified by endless creeds, flou- 
 rishes among them far beyond the power of for- 
 cible propairation. 
 
 Descended as we are mostly from the least mu- 
 sical people of the world, ancient or modern, and 
 settled as our country was at first by those who 
 
19 
 
 proscribed music from reliji;ious exercises, and as 
 this city particularly is by many who i eject it 
 from domestic pastime, such as cherish it as a 
 delightful recreation, may he satisfied when they 
 call to mind that its cultivation is a coirmion part 
 of the education of one sex among us, and that 
 an extensive Hidl has lately been appropriated in 
 Philadelphia to musical performances. 
 
 1 shall not attempt to enumerate the many phi- 
 losophical, literary, and scientific institutions that 
 abound, to prove that polite literature, as well as 
 useful science, are constantly and successftilly dis- 
 seminated. It is not probable that large private 
 libraries and collections will exist, where fortunes 
 are moderate, and continually changing owners. 
 But numerous public libraries always accuniulat- 
 ing;, leave nothing to desire or to frar in this re- 
 spect. It is a colonial apprehension, wliich pre- 
 vails most anions; those who ought to be most free 
 from it, that the higher refinements are not our 
 lot, and that we have exclianged those luxuries of 
 the few for the political enjoyments of the many. 
 The evaporation of this error has been in rapid 
 process during the last ten years, in which period 
 more of it has disappeared than in the thirty years 
 before. When it is recollected that but half a 
 century has been allowed yet to disprove the pre- 
 judice, and establish the contrary, there can be 
 little doubt that half a centurv more will do both 
 
so 
 
 effectually. Being asked in Europe what was 
 the average longevity of Philadelphia, Dr. Frank- 
 lin answered that he could not tell till an old wo- 
 man died, who was the first native of the place. 
 
 It is certainly, however, in the useful arts that 
 the greatest progress has taken place : and it 
 is most encouraging to see how associations of 
 individuals supply the place of opulent patrons. 
 A late evidence of this is the Franklin Institute, by 
 which the mechanic arts are to be scientifically 
 taught in gratuitous lectures, and represented in 
 annual fairs. Popular munificence is erecting a 
 noble temple for the purposes of these excellent 
 plans of popular instruction. 
 
 The charitable institufions, hospitals, asylums 
 for the aged and orphan, alms-houses, provident 
 societies, and infirmaries, are the just pride of 
 Philadelphia, whether their stately edifices, ex- 
 cellent discipline, or admirable benefactions are 
 considered. Among these, one of the most re- 
 cent and interesfing is that for the education of 
 the deaf and dumb, to which the Legislature of 
 Pennsylvania hberally subscribed in a glow of 
 sympathy for the poor and desolate, worthy and 
 indicative of popular government ; and for which 
 also an extensive building has just been erected. 
 
 Agriculture and horUculture shew their suc- 
 cesses in one of the best markets in the world ; 
 while every department of rural economy is zea- 
 
lously promoted by agricultural societies in this 
 vicinity, which unite scientific to practical know- 
 ledge in husbandry. The heathen mythology 
 deified the earth as the mother of plenty : and 
 the prolific sunbeam has had nations of worship- 
 pers in Afnerica. With more rational attachment, 
 the inhabiiants of Pennsylvania may bless their 
 stars without the idolatry of the children of the 
 sun, and venerate their soil without the Pagan 
 apotheosis 
 
 Some public spirited persons have formed a 
 society of internal improvement for the general 
 development of the statistical resources of Penn- 
 sylvania. With a zeal worthy the imitation and 
 the power of the governments of both the State 
 and the Union, they have sent a mission to Eu- 
 rope, to ascertain and bring hither the prodigious 
 improvements which have raised fifteen millions 
 of people in England, to the power and pre- 
 eminence of a nation of a hundred ^lillions — 
 a more important embassy than any other we 
 support in Europe. 
 
 Our olnious policy is to learn from the expe- 
 rience of Europe : and where innovation is doubt- 
 ful, to let the expense and risque of experiment be 
 borne there before we make attempts. The French 
 Revolution and Brifish Freedom have introduced 
 vast improvements. But, without vain boasting, 
 I think it is demonstrable, that the home of dis- 
 D 
 
2S 
 
 covery an^l enterprise will be fixed on the Ame- 
 rican side of tlie Atlantic ; where genius will have 
 greater inducements and larger scope, than is 
 possible, without perfect liberty in new coun- 
 tries. About six years ago, a highly ingenious 
 and successful inventor went from Philadelphia 
 to London, naturally attracted by the strong 
 allurements of that immense emporium : whose 
 success has not been equal to our expecta- 
 tions, nor to his deserts : and it may be doubted 
 whetlier, in the mighty contests waging by mind 
 as;uinst matter, he would not have won more im- 
 portant and protitaI)le victories in America than 
 in Europe. A few years since, an obscure native 
 of this neighbourhood, brought up to a trade in 
 Philadelphia, conceived, what he deemed, some 
 great practical imjirovem<^nts. He went to Eng- 
 land, and sought the patronage of the ministry, 
 and others, who were men of superior talents, 
 for the trial of h's schemes. Discountenanced 
 by them, he proceeded to France, and endea- 
 voured to impress the Emperor, proverbial for 
 sagacity, and environed by men of great at- 
 tainments, with, not only the feasibility of his 
 projects, but their vital utility to the French go- 
 vernment. Rejected and disappointed there too, 
 our adventurer at last returned, after many years 
 of fruitless courtship in Europe ; still not de- 
 spairing ; and; with assistance from a distin- 
 
S3 
 
 guished individual, tried the most foiiorn and 
 derided of Ins plans at home. What had been 
 found wanting by monarchs, and statesmen, and 
 philosopheisj in Kuiope, succeeded in the infalli- 
 ble ordeal of popular conviction in America. I'iie 
 projector was Fulton. The project was the steam 
 boat; which, in seventeen years, has already an- 
 nihilated the magnificent spaces of this continent, 
 done more perhaps than an excellent political 
 organisation for the union of the States, and is 
 fast. bringing Europe, Asia, Africa, and America, 
 the four corners of the earth together. May it 
 please that unknown God, to whom, six hundred 
 years before Mahomet appeared, St. Paul found 
 an altar in Athens, as he propagated Christianity by 
 means of fishern»en and tent-makers, overcoming 
 the disdainful barbarism of kings and arch-priests, 
 to grant, that the experiment about to be made 
 with the steam-boat, for liberating the most op- 
 pressed of Christians, and humbling the most 
 ruthless of Infidels, shall triumph in Greece as it 
 succeeded in America ! 
 
 Acknowledging the merits of that benefactor, 
 whom we claim, indeed and clierish, as our own, it 
 is, nevertheless, the sacred duty of this city to 
 rescue from unjust oblivion and record in imj)e- 
 rishable history, the pretensions of an humble but 
 deserving inventor, John Fitch, who, here, upon 
 the Delaware, full eighteen years before it was 
 
launched or tried upon the Hudson, navigated the 
 steam-boat at the rate of five miles an hour, from 
 Philadelphia to Bordentown, in every appliance, 
 excepting; some inconsiderable difference about 
 the wheels, the same inimitable contrivance that 
 has canonised the name of Fulton, and will mark 
 this age when Napoleon and Alexander are for- 
 gotten. Fitch's boat was constructed at Shacka- 
 maxon, or Kensington, where the famous treaty 
 of Penn and Tamany took place. Morris, Wil- 
 son, and others of our eminent citizens aided the 
 design : and though for the time it languished, 
 there is renown enough from such an application, 
 as it has proved, of genius to motion, to share 
 among all to whom any part belongs. When 
 Rumsey made his essay on the Potomac, and 
 Fitch on the Delaware, public resource was hardly 
 ripe for the result. The public travelling was so 
 inconsiderable, that not more than a very few per- 
 sons at a time could be conveyed between the 
 cities of New York and Philadelphia : and the 
 journey was long, fatiguing, expensive, uncomfort- 
 able, and dangerous. During the current season, 
 three hundred passengers have been the daily 
 average between these cities, going in twelve 
 hours, with every luxury of accommodation, and 
 at such insigniiicant expense, that, by a discovery 
 in the econos^y of travelling, it is proved that 
 the cheapest is the most productive : for no bounty 
 
25 
 
 or patrona2;e cultivates with th-e judgment or ef- 
 fect of popular inclination. 
 
 The expensive (unnecessarily expensive) im- 
 provements in the navigation of the Schuylkill, 
 tnay be said to be accomplished. A merchant of 
 Philadelpliia, who has acquired the largest com- 
 mercial fortune in the world, and does not waste 
 it as the rich merchant of Antwerp is said to have 
 done in kindUng fires of spices to incense vice- 
 roys — advanced several hundred thousand dol- 
 lars, to sustain this effort in time of need. The 
 Union Canal, to bring 800 miles of the shores of 
 the Susquehanna and its dependencies into water 
 communication with Philadelphia, is in partial 
 operation. The Chesapeake and Delaware Ca- 
 nal is in such forwardness as to promise its com- 
 pletion in two years. The Raritan and Delaware 
 Canal is begun in the assurance that it will also 
 be finished in two years or sooner. The great 
 junction of the Delaware with the Western lakes 
 and rivers is under earnest preliminary enter- 
 prise. And railways, which, with steam carriages 
 upon them, are the last and utmost achievement 
 of philosophical transportation, are about to be put 
 in use between the Schuylkill and Delaware, 
 through Philadelphia, perhaps likewise through- 
 out Pennsylvania. 
 
 The centrality, capital, enterprise, and advance, 
 of Philadelphia, must render it one of the abiding 
 
^6 
 
 places of the internal traffic of this continent. 
 But in contemplatiua; its expansion, the mind is 
 raised above the consideration of any one spot to 
 the magnilicent spectacle which the whole pre- 
 sents. Beginning with the projected improve- 
 ments in Massr?chusetts, and tracnu; tlie course 
 of partly artificial, mostly natural, interior naviga- 
 tion, through Long Island Sound, the Jersey and 
 Delaware Canals, the C lesapeake and Xorth Ca- 
 rolina Canals to Flonda, arid by a canal throuj2;h 
 that isthmus to Mexico, the whole Atlantic coast 
 is connected withiii a distance of a few days com- 
 munication : while the contiguration of the West 
 from Lake Superior to Ponchartrain, brings all 
 that region into similar intercourse. The recent 
 sovereignties of the South guaranty such improve- 
 ments throughout the whole American Hemi- 
 sphere ; includino; a canal from the Atlantic to 
 the Pacific: and present the New World to the 
 admiration of the Old, in a state of union, com- 
 merce, and strength, infinitely superior to the force 
 ol ruffian war, or the comparatively insignificant 
 security of armies and fortifications. To say 
 that our political organisation does not allow the 
 united prosecution and estal)hshment of these de- 
 signs, is to argue, that we have a government, 
 which caimot avail itself of the bounties of pro- 
 vidence : and to pause at the expense, would be 
 a singular infatuation for a community, which, 
 
37 
 
 within the three last montlis, has lost, by what is 
 called speculation, in a single raw material, as 
 much as would accomplish tlie whole navigation 
 in question. 
 
 About sixty thousand inhabitants of Philadel- 
 phia, considerably burthened by taxation, at an 
 outlay exceeding two millions of dollars, of 
 which a million and a half were disbursed in abor- 
 tive projects, leaving but 8450,000 for what has 
 succeeded, have provided the city with an inex- 
 haustible supply of wholesome water ; diminish- 
 ing the number, and assuagina; the character of its 
 diseases, and vouchsafing it from extensive con- 
 flagrations. Half a million is ad led by the rents 
 of this aqueduct to the capital of the city ; be- 
 sides a sinking fund of near three hundred 
 tliousand dollars. Would tliat it might prove the 
 fountain of temperance ! To be descended from 
 nations, whose love of freedom is instinctive, is a 
 blessing to redeem many faidts ; but our north- 
 ern extraction has enslaved us to the hal)it of 
 drinking ardent liquors to excess, eating animal 
 food immoderately, preferring it ill prepai'ed, us- 
 ing water seldom and sparingly, and — superadd- 
 ing an excitement of American origin — taking 
 tobacco extravagantly. Health and lon<j: life are 
 part of our lot : but we disown them by living as 
 if requiring the stimulants of a frigid zone — com- 
 plaining of the climate as our European ances- 
 
28 
 
 tors left us the habit. Whilever the savage 
 passion for inebriety prevails among a people 
 wit!) our perilous facilities of indulging it, it must 
 continue a principal cause of the ills ascribed to 
 weather, the accidents imputed to steam, the fires 
 of which supposed incendiaries are accused, many 
 of the risques charged to navigation, and tfie 
 prime minister of disorder, distemper, death, 
 and depopulation. The leprosy of menial sla- 
 very, contaminating our descent, though a more 
 denounced, is not a more formidable evil, than 
 this great stain and scourge of the country. In 
 some classes the fashion of hard drinking has 
 passed away with other colonial badges. But, in 
 general, and, especially, among those to whom 
 liquor and tobacco are most injurious, it is deplo- 
 rable how much of their work and business, as 
 well as entertainment and pleasure, from early 
 infancy to extreme old age, is transacted under 
 these destructive provocations. The abuses of 
 Sunday, the irregularities of every holy day, the 
 gambling, and debauchery, and misdemeanours, 
 that take place, proceed in great measure from 
 the neglected sources of intemperance Not only 
 our institutions but moral sense are lamentably 
 wanting in this respect. 
 
 The philosophy of public recreation altogether 
 is too much neglected among us. More at ease 
 than any other people, and free to use leisure at 
 
pleasure, we have scarcely an acknowledged holy 
 day, and few places of respectable public resort. 
 The provident founder of Philadelphia must have 
 considered this popular need when he designated 
 the open squares that have latterly received some 
 municipal attention : which might be rendered, as 
 is the case in all other climates and countries, an 
 alternative lor some, at least, of the private haunts 
 of dissipatior). 'i he shores of the Schuylkill offer 
 every thing wanting in this respect. The Society 
 of Friends, if I am not mistaken, employ the prin- 
 ciple of recreation with advantage in their Lunatic 
 Asylum in this neighbourhood : and at a late set- 
 tlement at Harmony, in the western part of Penn- 
 sylvania, it is to be introduced, upon what maiiy 
 deem, an extravagant scale of development. 
 
 The Penitentiary is entitled to distinct mention; 
 and the transition to it is l)Ut too natural from in- 
 toxication. This main problem among the mild 
 principles is about to be solved by fiiir and satis- 
 factory demonstration- All mankind are deeply 
 interested in the experiment : for if it fails in Phi- 
 ladelphia wheie it was conceived and began, its 
 universal disrepute must ensue. It is worth the 
 trial at any cost to determine wjiether more ra- 
 tional puni-Innent is impracticable than public 
 execution of the desperate, wrought up by en- 
 thusiasm to an effort of courage, and countenan- 
 ced by sympathising multitudes. In theory at 
 least and reason penitential seclusion from all in- 
 E 
 
30 
 
 tercourse but with the terrors of conscience and 
 the distress of inuc'ion, apjjears to be much more 
 severe and effectual: and we know that experience, 
 as far as it has gone, contirms the theory. The 
 jail now used is calculated only to frustrate and 
 discredit the plan : being a place of mere con- 
 finement without solitude or other punishment; 
 in which the malefactors of the whole state, in- 
 deed of many states, are crowded, in pernicious 
 confusion, into a prison intended for the mere 
 county of Philadelphia : and regulated moreover, 
 by a palpable subversion of the laws of the com- 
 monwealth and the sentences of the courts. 
 
 Henceforth the gates of Pennsylvania will be 
 penitentiaries. At the western and eastern en- 
 trances are erecting vast mansions of penitence, 
 which, from Pittsburg and Philadelphia, will frown 
 in inexoral)le granite on all the precincts of the 
 State. Upon their walls should be inscribed the 
 line from Dante's description of Hell, 
 
 Wretches who enter here leave hope behind. 
 
 The law enforced as pronounced, by solitary con- 
 finement, hard d'et and al)solute idleness, and the 
 pardoning power reserved for great occasions, 
 would probably deter from many crimes by the 
 most philosophical, humane and intolerable of 
 punishments. 
 
 PunishnK^nt, however, is but an accessorial and 
 subordinate influence, at best. The preservative, 
 
31 
 
 providential principle is education. I am autho- 
 rised by the gentleman who so cordially and cre- 
 ditably presides over the State schools to say. and 
 it is a gracious assertion, that no child, of either 
 sex, or any complexion, need grow up uneducated 
 in Philadelphia. The Sunday-schools which sub- 
 stitute employment and instruction for sloth and 
 mischief, are most beneficial auxiliaries to thefiee- 
 schools, which, however successful in Phil adcdphia, 
 are not so acceptable throughout Pennsylvania. 
 Schools for the languages and all the other usual ru- 
 diments of a good school education abound ; and 
 nowhere, perhaps, in proportion to population, are 
 more editions of *he Greek and Latin classics pub- 
 lished than in Philadelphia. It is in agitation to 
 establish hereabouts on the best foundation a 
 school similar to tiie military academy at West- 
 point. A school of law has been instituted by 
 gentlemen eminently qualified to render it use- 
 ful. The medical school maintains its ascenden- 
 cy, as the most frequented in America, having this 
 year for the first time the impulse of a rival school 
 in the same city. But some malediction seems to 
 rest on the colleges of Pennsylvania. In the south 
 and west new colleges are rising with great i)ro- 
 misc. Those of the east and north continue to 
 flourish. Disclaiming all invidious censure or 
 suggestion as to the cause it ought to be the anx- 
 ious enquiry of every friend to improvement why 
 this vital requisite should languish as it does 
 
S2 
 
 throiij^hout this commonwealth. As early as 
 1686, immediately after Penii's settlement, a 
 school was founded in Philadelphia, and a print- 
 ing press set up. In 1689 a seminary or college 
 was estal)r:shed hy tlie Society of Friends, who 
 at that early day bore their testimony, in the pre- 
 anU)le to the Charter of this Institution, to the iin- 
 portance of public schools and good education in 
 reading, writings learniiig languages^ and useful 
 arts and sciences to qualify youth to serve their 
 couidry. 
 
 America has now become the Free-School of 
 the world. South America is at this juncture 
 especially the pupil of this country, /rnong the 
 many distinguished youth from that portion of this 
 hemisphere who come to imbibe their principles 
 by education among us, a nephew of the most illus- 
 trious citizen, bearing his glorious name, after 
 completing his school education near Philadel- 
 phia, is about transferring his collegiate pursuits 
 elsewhere. Why should not the university of 
 Pennsylvania be the reservoir of honour, iufluence, 
 and emolument which such scholars afford ? Why 
 not give governors to Pennsylvania, Presidents to 
 the United States, and eminent men to both Ame- 
 ricas ? I could name professional men whose 
 individual eminence draws wealth and regaid and 
 importance to Philadelphia. Such an institution 
 as the university should be a chief resource of 
 this city and the intellectual ornament of the State. 
 
33 
 
 In the sliajht details of this homespun homily 
 the foresight and principles of Penn have been 
 partially explained by their effects among the 
 progeny of his settlement. Perhaps fondly, but I 
 hope not fancifully, certainly not falsely articula- 
 ted, some of the physical and moral outlines, 
 omittinu; the civil and social lineaments, have 
 been bi ought into view. A few of the shades 
 have been freely though kindly, touched. If this 
 were the occasiori, it might do good to depict 
 such political, moral, and social infirmities as doubt- 
 less there aie. For public adulation is as culpa- 
 ble as personal : and the time has come, when, 
 having purified our blood of the degrading pre- 
 judices imbued by foreign opprolirium and colo- 
 nial subserviency, we owe it to ourselves, and to 
 all calumniators, as well as admirers, honestly to 
 tell ourselves and them wliat our faults really are. 
 
 In displaying the character of Philadelphia we 
 instance that of Pennsylvania, and of the whole 
 country that surrounds, protects and resembles 
 us. Selfish and local jealousy would be unworthy 
 of any view of the traces of the founder of this 
 city and State. The vulgar and foolish narrow- 
 mindedness is exploded which supposes that ei- 
 ther man or place can prosper alone ; or that pros- 
 perity of either is to be purchased by the decline 
 of others. It is the remarkable experience of 
 this whole country tliat it all thrives together : and 
 that when one part suffers any check the rest is 
 
affected also. Long the capital of Pennsyl- 
 vania, and for sometime the metropolis of the 
 union, Philadelphia was hut the common head 
 in pioneering many of the great improvements 
 of the new world. Become again nothing more 
 than the great town which Penn called it, all 
 may rejoice with us that the conservative ener- 
 gies of a homogenous nation, with natui al advan- 
 tages, supply the place of political patronage : 
 while we rejoice with all that from Machias to 
 Aikapolis and from Arkapolis to Tallahassee, the 
 whole of our blessed and beloved country flou- 
 rishes in peace together. It is the peculiar hap- 
 piness of Americans to be attached not only to 
 the exuberant soil and fine meridian of their habi- 
 tation by the animal instincts of local affection ; 
 but to be nurtured in the more rational love of 
 those free institutions wjiose allegiance embraces 
 reason as well as feeling, whose sovereignty has 
 no treason or alienation to fear, without whose 
 light and heat the most brilliant skies and fertile 
 fields would he abandoned for the bleakest, the 
 barrenest and the remotest where liberty might 
 find a home. The pious forefathers oi every 
 province, from Plymouth to Pennsylvania, from 
 Pennsylvania to Maryland, and from Maryland to 
 Carolina, patient of all evils but the want of civil 
 and religious freedom, the moral noblemen of 
 many nations, the conscientious and indomitable 
 of every tongue and sect, liere, on these pilgrim 
 
35 
 
 shores, raised the ark of that covenant which owns- 
 no superior but God on hi^h, and no inferior but 
 the vicious among themselves. 
 
 In the crucible of liberty, all the languages of 
 Europe have been melted into one. In the tem- 
 ple of toleration, all religions have been sanctified. 
 The forests » f a continent have been weeded 
 with stutdy hands, till its wilds have become the 
 ways of pleasantness, and the paths of peace. 
 With stout hearts and apt genius, the ocean has 
 been tanied till it is part of the domain. 
 
 Plenty empties her full liorn into the lap of tran- 
 quillity. Commerce fetches riclies from every 
 latitude. Tlie earth and mountains are quick 
 with inexhaustible productions. Domestic in- 
 dustry contiibutes ils infinite creations. Poetry, 
 history, architecture, sculpture, painting, and mu- 
 sic, daily add their memorials. Yet these are as 
 nothing. Vixea nosti'a voco — enjoyments scarcelv 
 acknowledged — all local advantages would be 
 disregarded, if they were not recommended by 
 the religious, social, and political principles we 
 enjoy with them. 
 
 Let us cultivate, and vindicate, and perpetuate 
 this country, not only by the power and sympa- 
 thies of heroic exploits, but by the nobler attrac- 
 tions of all the arts of peace. Ours is the 
 country of principles, not place : where the do- 
 mestic virtues reign, in union with the riizhts of 
 man ; where intense patriotism is the natural 
 
36 
 
 offspring of those virtues and rights ; where love 
 of conntry is a triple tie, to birth place, to state, 
 and to union, spun of the niagic woof that binds 
 calculation to instinct. Aloof, erect, unmeddling, 
 undaunted, it neither envies nor fears, while justly 
 estima!ing,the splendid and imposing ascendancy of 
 the continent it sprung from. It sends on every gale 
 to Europe the voice, not of defiance or hostility, but 
 of an independent hemisphere of freemen. It 
 sends to Asia the riches of commerce, and the gos- 
 pel with healing on its wings. It sends to Africa the 
 banner spangled with stars, to awe the tyrant and 
 protect the slave. It sends to all benighted quar- 
 ters of the globe, the ndld but divine radiance of 
 an irresistible example. It invites the oppressed 
 of all nations and degrees, from dethroned mo- 
 narchs and banished princes, to fugitive peasants 
 and destitute labourers, to come and rest within 
 these borders. 
 
 May the sciences and refinements which em- 
 bellish and enlighten, the charities that endear, 
 and the loyalty that enobles, for ever flourish here 
 on the broad foundations of peace, liberty, and in- 
 telligence. And among increasing millions of 
 educated, moral, and contented people, may the 
 disciples of Penn, Franklin, and Washington, meet 
 together in frequent and grateful concourse, to 
 render thanksgivings to the Almighty for the bles- 
 sings we enjoy by his dispensation. 
 
 In S '12