The inscription on the pedestal was as follows:-- [Front.] AMERICANS REMEMBER THE BRITISH. [Right side.] YOUTH OF MY COUNTRY MARTYRDOM PREFERRED TO SLAVERY. [Left side.] SIRES OF COLUMBIA transmit to posterity the cruelties practiced on board the "BRITISH PRISON SHIPS." [Rear.] "Tyrants dread the gathering storm While Freemen, Freemen's Obsequies perform." The orator of the day was Dr. Benjamin DeWitt, who delivered an able and patriotic address to the assembled multitude. He feelingly depicted the sufferings endured in British dungeons, and drew tears to many eyes by his eloquent and touching remarks, referring to the tyranny of the oppressors and the patience of the patriots. The oration concluded, in painful silence the coffins were committed to their resting place. Rev. Mr. Williston then pronounced the benediction, "To the King, Immortal, Invisible, the All-wise God, be glory everlasting, amen." The occasion was one long remembered in both cities. During many years these relics remained forgotten in their sepulchre. The grade of Jackson Street was altered so as to take a part of the sacred ground. Jackson, when he gave the land, was not far-sighted enough to have secured the passage of an act to preserve its precincts intact, free from invasion by streets, and exempt from taxation. The land at one time was sold for taxes. It seemed as if the past had been forgotten. Then it was that Benjamin Romaine came forward and purchased the lot. In order to preserve it from desecration, he adopted it as his family burial plot. He resolved to be buried there himself, and placed within the vault a coffin designed for his mortal remains. He constructed the ante-chamber over the tomb. Upon the property he placed the following inscription:-- First--The portal to the tomb of 11,500 patriot prisoners of war who died in dungeons and pestilential prison ships in and about the City of New York during the war of our Revolution. The top is capped with two large urns in black, and a white globe in the centre. Second--The interior of the tomb contains thirteen coffins assigned in the order as observed in the Declaration of Independence, and inserted thus--New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Georgia. Third--Thirteen beautifully turned posts, painted white, and capped with a small urn in black, and between the posts the above-named States are fully lettered. Fourth--In 1778, the Colonial Congress promulgated the Federal League compact, though it was not finally ratified until 1781, only two years before the peace of 1783.