Sivut kuvina
PDF
ePub

not dup

MAY 201

A

HISTORICAL ADDRESS,

DELIVERED AT THE

COMMEMORATION

OF THE

ONE HUNDREDTH ANNIVERSARY

OF THE

FIRST ANNUAL TOWN MEETING OF THE TOWN OF SALISBURY,

OCTOBER 20, A. D. 1841.

BY SAMUEL CHURCH.

NEW HAVEN:

HITCHCOCK & STAFFORD, PRINTERS.

1842.

1

1

At a legal Town Meeting of the inhabitants of the Town of Salisbury, holden October 20th, 1841, it was

Voted, That the thanks of this Town be presented to the Hon. Samuel Church, for the Address he has this day delivered.

Voted, That the Committee of Arrangements be directed to request of Judge CHURCH a copy of his Address, to be printed under the direction of the Selectmen. A true copy of record. Attest,

ROGER AVERILL, Town Clerk.

TO THE COMMITTEE OF ARRANGEMENTS:

GENTLEMEN-I have this day received from the Town Clerk and from the Secretary of your Board, the foregoing votes, requesting a copy of the Address delivered by me at our Centennial Town Meeting, October 20th, 1841, for publication.

I have hesitated much whether in justice to myself I ought to permit the Address to be published. It was not intended originally for the public, but rather to give some additional interest to our Commemorative Meeting. Besides, I have had neither leisure nor patience to prepare it for the public eye.

If you receive it, gentlemen, you must be content to receive it with all its imperfections. So far as it purports to give a history of our Town, I think it may be relied upon as correct; at least, as nearly so as it could be made by a very cautious dependence upon well authenticated tradition, and a resort to public records and private documents.

If its publication will add at all to the gratification of the inhabitants of my native Town, or to the pleasure of our widely-dispersed friends abroad, to whom I am under many obligations of gratitude, I consent to it.

To Messrs. ELIPHALET WHITTLESEY,

JOHN C. COFFING,

ALEXANDER H. HOLLEY,

JARED S. HARRISON,

SAMUEL C. SCOVILLE,

ROGER AVERILL,

Salisbury, January 21, 1842.

Committee of
Arrangements.

SAMUEL CHURCH.

[ocr errors]

ADDRESS.

MR. MODERATOR,*

THIS day completes a century since the first of your predecessors, Thomas Newcomb, presided as moderator of our first Town Meeting. Our records do not inform us where that meeting was convened; probably not far from the place where we are now assembled. More than one half of this period has passed away since I have lived, and you, Sir, have survived nearly three fourths of it.

Within this brief space, what mighty events have transpired! Kingdoms have risen up and kingdoms have fallen, and almost the entire map of the world has been changed. The progress of science and the arts, the recognition and security of human rights, the tolerant spirit of genuine Christianity, all have been in full and successful accomplishment, within the last century, to an extent never before witnessed in this world's history. And within our own town, hardly an evidence of its original identity exists, except its hills and waters and public records! Were our powers of fancy and anticipation of prophetic mould, what think you, Sir, we could now see of the results of another century of equal progress?

Our ancestors, whose deeds and memories we would now recall, and of whom our early records speak, were free in spirit and purpose, and yet were the subjects of a master;

Lot Norton, Esq.

« EdellinenJatka »