EDWARD GRAY. JULY 4, 1790. FOR THE TOWN AUTHORITIES EDWARD GRAY was born at Boston, 1764; entered the Latin School 1772, graduated at Harvard College 1782, was a counsellor-at-law, and married Susanna Turell, 1790; was a polished gentleman of great blandness of manners, and highly esteemed. Rev. Frederick T. Gray was his son. He died at Boston, Dec. 10, 1810, aged forty-six. WILLIAM TUDOR. JULY 4, 1790. FOR THE MASSACHUSETTS SOCIETY OF CINCINNATI. WILLIAM TUDOR, the last orator for this veteran institution, very pertinently remarks, that "to ascertain the precise time, under the administration of a Cecil or a Chatham, when Britain and her colonies must have separated, might afford amusement to a speculative inquirer, but can be of no utility now. That the crisis was precipitated, is conceded. But it was not the despotic statutes of England,—it was not the haughty and fastidious manners of her officers, civil or military, -- which compelled the mighty Revolution which severed her empire. These did rouse, but they could not create, that unconquerable spirit which stimulated America to vindicate, and irrevocably to fix, those rights which distance and other causes might for ages have kept indefinite, dependent, and precarious. No; it was that native, fervid sense of freedom, which our enlightened ancestors brought with them and fostered in the forests of America, and which, with pious care, they taught their offspring never to forego. Although the present age cannot forget, and posterity shall learn to remember, those violences which impelled their country to war, yet it must be admitted that the period of parting had arrived. British influence and foreign arts might have corrupted, silenced or destroyed, that spirit which, thus early outraged, became invincible, gave birth to the immortal edict, and all those glorious circumstances in which we this day rejoice. "Whole oceans rolled between, yet the colonies retained a strong attachment to their parent State. The numerous memorials transmitted from every province to that infatuated country remain the evidence of their patience and affection. But, deaf to the voice of supplication and aloof to entreaty, she added indignity to wrong, until 'humility was tortured into rage.' Oppression was crowded upon oppression, until submission was criminal, and resistance became an obligation. On this auspicious day, and through every revolving year, the magnanimity exhibited by our country at that all-interesting and momentous crisis shall cheer the patriot mind, and raise a glow of honest pride. She neither hesitated nor halted; but, sacrificing her attachments at the shrine of duty, appealed to God and to her sword for justice and success. Heaven approbated the appeal, invigorated her councils, and pointed the road to victory. That sword which she drew by compulsion she wore with honor, and her enemies have confessed that she sheathed it without revenge." THOMAS CRAFTS, JR. JULY 4, 1791. FOR THE TOWN AUTHORITIES. IN the peroration of this performance Mr. Crafts says: "Locally remote from the causes of quarrel which drench the European world in blood, what have we to do but cultivate in peace those virtues which make a nation great, as well as happy? The goddess of Liberty has condescended to reside among us. Let us cherish the lovely guest,for where will she find an asylum, if driven from these happy shores? To look before us, a field presents itself over which the excursive wing of fancy might soar unwearied. In a few years, our extensive lakes shall be crowded with ships charged with the rich produce of yet unfurrowed soils. On the banks of rivers, where human footstep yet has never trod, cities shall rear their gilded spires. The trackless wilderness, where now the tawny aboriginals, in frantic yells, celebrate their orgies, shall become the peaceful abodes of civilized life. And America shall be renowned for the seat of science and the arts, as she already has been for the wisdom of her counsels and the valor of her arms." Thomas Crafts, Jr., was born at Boston, April 9, 1767; entered the Latin School 1774, and graduated at Harvard College 1785, where he took part in a syllogistic disputation"Sol est habitabilis," and read law with Gov. Gore. He was probably a son of Col. Thomas Crafts, who proclaimed the Declaration of Independence from the balcony of the old State-house, in 1776, in presence of the people. The son was counsellor-at-law. He was secretary to Hon. Mr. Gore, in the mission to the court of St. James, and was appointed United States consul for Bourdeaux. He was a bachelor. He was an effective political writer, and his chaste productions often appeared in Russell's Centinel. He had an infinite fund of wit and humor, and his companionship was eagerly sought. The elder Adams remarked of him that he was one of the rarest wits he ever knew. He died Aug. 25, 1798. This was not the person so graphically characterized by the Boston. satirist. Mr. Crafts was too decided an advocate for the Federal party to be the subject of such shafts. Old Democratic Justice Crafts was probably a near kinsman. "Dear Justice Crafts, fair faction's partisan, In this you differ from that great divine, Once from his head came wisdom, ne'er from thine. Of kingcraft, priestcraft, craftily he talks; But never knew him mention justice-craft." JOSEPH BLAKE, JR. JULY 4, 1792. FOR THE TOWN AUTHORITIES. JOSEPH BLAKE, JR., was born at Boston, and a brother of Hon. George Blake; graduated at Harvard College in 1786, when he gave an English oration; became an attorney-at-law, and married Anna Black, in 1793. He removed to New York, and died at Kingston, Jamaica, July 10, 1802, aged thirty-four years. We find in the Democratiad, printed in 1796, a poetical sketch of Dr. Charles Jarvis' speech at Faneuil Hall, against Jay's treaty, which elicited an allusion to Mr. Blake : "Now loud and clamorous the debate begins, — To every member of the gaping crowd, Boobies may hear it read ere they decide, - We quote the above for the purpose of introducing the allusion in a note of the Democratiad, as follows: "The doctor said this 'in a manner that would have done honor to a Cicero,' says his printer, Mr. Adams. Pray, Mr. Adams, who ever told you anything about Cicero ? Why did you not say, which would have done honor to a Joseph Blake, Jr., that classical young orator who seconded the doctor at the townmeetings in routing poor Mr. Hall? You might then have appealed for proof to an oration he spoke a few years ago, on the 4th of July, in which he says that this continent is very happily situated, being 'barricaded on one side by vast regions of soil.' Be so good, Mr. Blake, before you decide against the treaty, as to tell us which side of this centinent is barricaded by vast regions of soil." We will quote the passage exactly as it is given in Mr. Blake's oration: "Most favorable is the situation of this continent. It stands a world by itself. Barricaded from external danger on one side by vast regions of soil; on the other, by wide plains of ocean. The Atlantic, upon her bosom, may undulate riches to its shore, but all the artillery in Europe cannot shake it to its centre." JOHN QUINCY ADAMS. JULY 4, 1793. FOR THE TOWN AUTHORITIES. --- In this model oration, our orator, with a burst of fervor, exclaims: "Americans! let us pause for a moment to consider the situation of our country at that eventful day when our national existence commenced. In the full possession and enjoyment of all those prerogatives for which you then dared to adventure upon 'all the varieties of untried being,' the calm and settled moderation of the mind is scarcely competent to conceive the tone of heroism to which the souls of freemen were exalted in that hour of perilous magnanimity. Seventeen times has the sun, in the progress of his annual revolutions, diffused his prolific radiance over the plains of independent America. Millions of hearts, which then palpitated with the rapturous glow of patriotism, have already been translated to a brighter world, to the abodes of more than mortal freedom! Other millions have arisen, to receive from their parents and benefactors the inestimable recompense of their achievements. A large proportion of the audience whose benevolence is at this moment listening to the speaker of the day, like him, were at that period too little advanced beyond the threshold of life to partake of the divine enthusiasm which inspired the American bosom, which prompted her voice to proclaim defiance to the thunders of Britain, which consecrated the banners of her armies, and, finally, erected the holy temple of American Liberty over the tomb of departed tyranny. It is from those who have already passed the meridian of life, it is from you, ye venerable assertors of the rights of mankind,—that we are to be informed what were the feelings which swayed within your breasts, and impelled you to action, when, like the stripling of Israel, with scarce a weapon to attack, and without a shield for your defence, you met, and, undismayed, engaged with the gigantic greatness of the British power. Untutored in the disgraceful science of human butchery,- destitute of the fatal materials which the ingenuity of man has combined to sharpen the scythe of death, — unsupported by the arm of any friendly alliance, and unfortified against the powerful assaults of an unrelenting enemy, --- you did not hesitate at that moment, when your coasts were invaded by a numerous and veteran army, to pronounce the sentence of eternal separation from Britain, and to throw the gauntlet at a power the |