The Works of Daniel Webster, Volume 1Webster, Daniel
History
The Works of Daniel Webster, Volume 1
Webster, Daniel
United States -- Politics and government -- 1815-1861
It would be unjust, fellow-citizens, on this occasion, while we
express our veneration for him who is the immediate subject of these
remarks, were we to omit a most respectful, affectionate, and
grateful mention of those other great men, his colleagues, who stood
with him, and with the same spirit, the same devotion, took part in
the interesting transaction. HANCOCK, the proscribed HANCOCK, exiled
from his home by a military governor, cut off by proclamation from the
mercy of the crown,--Heaven reserved for him the distinguished honor
of putting this great question to the vote, and of writing his own
name first, and most conspicuously, on that parchment which spoke
defiance to the power of the crown of England. There, too, is the
name of that other proscribed patriot, SAMUEL ADAMS, a man who
hungered and thirsted for the independence of his country; who
thought the Declaration halted and lingered, being himself not only
ready, but eager, for it, long before it was proposed; a man of the
deepest sagacity, the dearest foresight, and the profoundest judgment
in men. And there is GERRY, himself among the earliest and the
foremost of the patriots, found, when the battle of Lexington summoned
them to common counsels, by the side of WARREN; a man who lived to
serve his country at home and abroad, and to die in the second place
in the government. There, too, is the inflexible, the upright, the
Spartan character, ROBERT TREAT PAINE. He also lived to serve his
country through the struggle, and then withdrew from her councils,
only that he might give his labors and his life to his native State,
in another relation. These names, fellow-citizens, are the treasures
of the Commonwealth; and they are treasures which grow brighter by
time.
* * * * *
It is now necessary to resume the narrative, and to finish with great
brevity the notice of the lives of those whose virtues and services we
have met to commemorate.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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