** This Declaration of Rights may be found in the Appendix.
State Papers issued by Congress.—Debates. Diversity of Opinion.—Dartmouth's Circular.—Joseph Galloway.
with such enemies of American liberty were to be immediately broken off. One hundred and fifty copies of the Articles of Association were ordered to be printed.
A memorial to the inhabitants of the several British-American colonies, written by Richard Henry Lee, and an eloquent address to the people of Great Britain, from the pen of John Jay, were adopted by Congress on the 21st. A petition to the king, drawn October, 1774 by John Dickenson, was approved of on the 22d. Short letters to the colonies of St. John's Island (now Prince Edward's, Nova Scotia), Georgia, and the two Floridas, inclosing the doings of Congress, and inviting them to join the Association, were also adopted on that day; and on the 26th, the last day of the session, they approved of an elaborate address to the inhabitants of Canada. This was drawn up by Mr. Dickenson with his usual ability. Having made provision for another Congress to meet on the 10th of May following, * the first general council closed its session by adopting a second humble petition to the king, and a vote of thanks to the advocates of colonial rights in both houses of Parliament.
Congress was in actual session only thirty-one days out of the eight weeks of the term, the remainder of the time being occupied in preparatory business. It was a session of extraordinary activity, and a great amount of business of vast importance was transacted, notwithstanding many unnecessary speeches were evidently made. ** They were certainly more to the purpose than are most of the harangues in Congress at the present day, or, considering the diversity of opinion that must have existed upon the sentiments of the various state papers that were adopted, the session would have continued for several months. We have no means of knowing what harmony or what discord characterized those debates. The doors were closed to the public ear, and no reporters for the press have preserved the substance of the speeches. That every resolution adopted was far from receiving a unanimous vote, is very evident; for we find, by the subsequent declarations and acts of delegates, that some of the measures were violently opposed. Many deplored the probability of an open rupture with the mother country, and refused acquiescence in any measure that should tend to such a result. Indeed, the sentiments of a large majority of the delegates were favorable to an honorable reconciliation, and the Congress was determined not to present the least foundation for a charge of rushing madly into an unnatural contest without presenting the olive branch of peace. Such was the tenor of its petitions and addresses; and every charge of a desire on the part of Congress for a war that might lead to independence rested solely upon inference. Galloway, *** Duane, and others, even opposed the American Association;
* The following circular letter was sent to all the royal governors in America, soon after the proceedings of the Continental Congress were received in England. It was a "Bull" without horns, and did not alarm the patriots. "Whitehall, Jan. 4th, 1775. "Certain persons stiling" (sic) "themselves delegates of his majesty's colonies in America, having presumed, without his majesty's authority or consent, to assemble together, at Philadelphia, in the month of September and October last; and having thought fit, among other unwarrantable proceedings, to resolve that it will be necessary that another Congress should be held in this place on the 10th of May next, unless redress for certain pretended grievances be obtained before that time, and to recommend that all the colonies in North America should choose deputies to attend such Congress, I am commanded by the king to signify to you his majesty's pleasure, that you do use your utmost endeavors to prevent such appointment of deputies within the colony under your government; and that you do exhort all persons to desist from such unwarrantable proceedings, which can not but be highly displeasing to the king. "I am, sir, your most obedient servant, Dartmouth.
** "Every man in this assembly," wrote John Adams to his wife, "is a great man, an orator, a critic, a statesman; and therefore every man, upon every question, must show his oratory, his criticism, his political abilities. The consequence is, that business is spun out to an immeasurable length."
*** Joseph Galloway was one of the most popular of the leaders in Pennsylvania when the war of the Revolution broke out. He was once the confidential friend of Franklin, and had worked shoulder to shoulder with him against the proprietaries. He was elected a delegate to the first Continental Congress. In that body he submitted a plan, as a measure of accommodation, which seemed quite feasible. It proposed a union of the colonies, with a grand council authorized to regulate colonial affairs jointly with the British Parliament, each to have a mutual negation on each other. * This plan was favorably received, and on the question of its adoption it was rejected by a majority of only one. The debates were very warm, and it was on this occasion that Samuel Adams, regarding the proposition as a concession to tyranny, exclaimed, "I should advise persisting in our struggle for liberty, though it were revealed from heaven that nine hundred and ninety-nine were to perish, and only one of a thousand were to survive and retain his liberty! One such freeman must possess more virtue and enjoy more happiness than a thousand slaves; and let him propagate his like, and transmit to them what he has so nobly preserved." * Before the meeting of the next Congress, Galloway manifested lukewarmness; and in 1776 he abandoned the Whigs, and became the most virulent and proscriptive Loyalist of the time. He joined the royal army in New York, where he continued until 1778, when, accompanied by his only daughter, he went to England. There he remained until his death in September, 1803, at the age of seventy-three years. His pen, for many years, was continually employed in correspondence with Loyalists in America, and upon subjects connected with the war. The prominent position which he at first held among the Whigs, and his virulence against them after his defection, made him the target for many an arrow of indignant wit. Trumbull, in his M'Fingall, gave him some hard hits; and a writer in the Pennsylvania Journal of February 5, 1777, thus castigates him with some lines, after saying to the printer,
"If you think them severe enough, print 'em, egad I''
"Gall'way has fled, and join'd the venal Howe,
To prove his baseness, see him cringe and bow;
A traitor to his country and its laws,
A friend to tyrants and their cursed cause.
Unhappy wretch! thy interest must be sold
For Continental, not for polish'd gold.
To sink the money thou thyself cried down,
And stabb'd thy country to support the crown.
Go to and fro, like Lucifer on earth,
And curse the Being that first gave thee birth.
Away to Scotland and thyself prepare,
Coal dust and brimstone is their only fare;
Fit materials for such Tory blood,
Who wrong their country and deny their God.
There herd with Bute, Mansfield, and his brother;
Bite, twist, sting, and poison one another."
*** Galloway's estate, valued at $200,000, was confiscated by Pennsylvania. A large part of it was derived from his wife. A considerable portion was restored to his daughter.