Samuel Adams laid the corner-stone of the State-house in Boston, who said, "May the principles of our excellent constitution, founded in nature and in the rights of man, be ably defended here;" and in the year previous, Gov. Adams said, in Faneuil Hall, at the celebration of the destruction of the Bastile in Paris, "May the laurel of victory never wither on the brow of republicanism." Mr. Blake married Rachel Baty, who died in early life, and he married a second time Sarah Murdock. On the fourth of February, 1800, Mr. Blake delivered a eulogy on Washington, for St. John's Lodge. In 1801 he was appointed the United States District Attorney for Massachusetts, at which time he was a representative in the State Legislature. Mr. Blake was a delegate to the Massachusetts State convention for the revision of the State constitution, in 1820. His speeches on important topics were frequent, and no man displayed a keener jealousy for the democracy, or readier adroitness of conception. In his speech on senatorial apportionment, he remarked that he considered the constitution of this commonwealth the purest and most perfect model of republican government that ever existed on the face of the globe. There cannot be found in any State, or in the world, a constitution so free and so liberal as that of Massachusetts, which we now have, independent of any amendments which may be proposed. He had been a republican in the most gloomy times, it was fashionable to be republican now,and he should not be disposed to desert republicanism at such a time. He said that he had used the other day a very improper figure, when he called the Senate the rich man's citadel. It was no more the citadel of the rich than of the poor man. It was the only branch of the government which was particularly designed for the protection of property, and the protection was as important for those who have little as for those who have much. Mr. Blake opposed the investiture of Boston into a city corporation, and also opposed the city charter, as subversive of democracy. He was the first Democratic candidate for the mayoralty. In 1829 Mr. Blake resigned his office of District Attorney, and was again elected to the House, until his advance to the Senate, in 1833. He was profound in legal acquirement, and his forensic powers were of a high order. often irresistible. The propriety and fervor in debate, excited admiration. Democratic party, and a frequent National Ægis, edited by his brother, Francis Blake, and a decided

His control over the jury was elegance of his diction, and his He was an active leader of the contributor to the Worcester

advocate of the measures of Jefferson. His speeches in General Court, and learned arguments at the bar, were often published. All that Mr. Blake said was delivered

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in such apt and gracious words
That younger ears played truant at his tale,
And older hearings were quite ravished,
So voluble and sweet was his discourse."

He died October 6, 1841.

JOHN LATHROP, JR.

JULY 4, 1796. FOR THE TOWN AUTHORITIES.

In the nervous and patriotic performance of our orator, we have this happy exordium: "It is now acknowledged as a fact in political biography, that Liberty descended from heaven on the 4th of July, 1776. We are assembled on this day, the twentieth anniversary of her advent, to sympathize in those pleasures which none but freemen can enjoy, to exchange those mutual congratulations which none but freemen can express.

"The first promulgation of the gospel of liberty was the declaration of American independence. Her apostles, the venerable Congress, whose mode of evangelizing made many a Felix tremble, sealed the doom and issued the death-warrant of despotism. The measure of her iniquity was filled up. The decree was gone forth, and Americans were elected by God to redeem from bondage the miserable victims of arbitrary power. But it would have been of no avail for them to publish to the enslaved the beauties of freedom, describe her charms, and urge the duty of possessing her, while they themselves were declared, by an act of the British legislature, liable to be bounden by the will and laws of that overbearing kingdom, 'in all cases whatsoever.' They disdained an inconsistency of character, they presented the world with a glorious example, by effecting their own emancipation. Yes, my fellow-countrymen! you indignantly refused a base submission to the usurpation of Great Britain - to the impositions of her Parliament, and the insolence of her ministry. After opposing reasoning and argument to her absurd pretensions, and digni

fied remonstrance to her unjustifiable encroachments, the solemn appeal was made to Heaven,- the sword was drawn, and the once inseparable tie of connection between the two countries severed in twain. The mighty blow resounded through the universe. The nations of the earth were astonished, dumb with surprise, or trembling with apprehension. The deep-rooted thrones of aged monarchies were shaken to their centres. The Bastiles of tyranny, riven by the shock, reluctantly admitted the rays of hope to gladden the desponding hearts of their wretched tenants, and opened to their view a distant prospect of scenes illumined with Liberty's full and perfect day."

John Lathrop was born in Boston, January, 1772. His father was pastor of the New Brick Church, of which Cotton Mather had been the minister. Owing to differences in the church, which originated the New North Church, when Rev. Peter Thacher was its first pastor, the New Brick Society elevated the figure of a cock, as a vane, upon the steeple, out of derision to Mr. Thacher, whose Christian name was Peter, says Eliot, and, taking advantage of a north wind, which turned the head of the cock towards the New North Church, when it was placed upon the spindle, a merry fellow sat astride over it, and crowed three times, to complete the ceremony. Rev. Dr. Lathrop was a fervent patriot; and, on the Sunday after the massacre in King-street, delivered a sermon, which was printed, entitled "Innocent Blood Crying to God from the Streets of Boston." The subject of this outline pursued the study of law under Christopher Gore, but he was soon known more as a poet than a lawyer, as his poetry appeared in the journals. In 1797, after the delivery of the oration at the head of this article, he removed to Dedham, and became clerk of Norfolk courts, but soon returned to Boston, where he became an intimate with Paine and Prentiss, the poets.

In 1799 he made a voyage to Calcutta, where he hoped the patronage of the Marquis of Wellesley. In the ardor of his zeal for instructing the rising generation of Calcutta, Mr. Lathrop presented to the Marquis of Wellesley, then governor-general, a plan of an institution at which the youths of India might receive an education, patronized by government, without going to England for that purpose. In an interview with his lordship, Mr. Lathrop urged with great eloquence the advantages of such a plan; but his lordship decidedly opposed him, remarking, with vehemence, "No, no, sir; India is, and ever ought to be, a colony of Great Britain; the seeds of independence

must not be sown here. Establishing a seminary in New England at so early a period of time hastened your revolution half a century." He established a school for the instruction of youth, and became a writer for the Calcutta Post; and, after a ten years' residence, returned to his country. His first wife was daughter of Joseph Peirce, Esq., whom he married in 1793; and he married a second time,- Miss Bell, of Calcutta. His work on the manners and customs of India was never published. On his return to Boston, he taught a school, delivered lectures on natural philosophy, published songs and orations, and contributed to the public journals. He published a school-book on the use of globes. He soon removed to Washington, where, and at Georgetown in the vicinity, he practised as an instructor, lecturer, and writer in the newspapers. He obtained a situation in the post-office, and died Jan. 30, 1820, a victim of sensibility, and a son of frailties and misfortune.

Lathrop's best poem was the "Speech of Canonicus." In 1813 he delivered the first anniversary discourse for the Associate Instructors of Youth in Boston; in 1798, an oration for 4th of July, at Dedham ; a Masonic address at Charlestown, in 1811, and a Monody on John L. Abbot, in 1815. When he graduated at college, in 1789, he delivered a poem on the Influence of Civil Institutions on the Social and Moral Faculties. Lathrop once closed an ode as follows:

JOHN CALLENDER was born at Boston, Feb. 4, 1772, and son of Capt. Eleazar Callender, who married Elizabeth, sister of Gov. Gore,

Nov. 23, 1768. He entered the Latin School in 1779, and graduated at Harvard College in 1790. His topic at commencement was an oration, in French, on the revolution in France. He was an attorneyat-law, and married Catharine Templeman, of Georgetown, Md., Nov. 23, 1794; was lieutenant of the Boston Light Infantry, on its institution, in 1798; was a representative in the State Legislature, secretary of Massachusetts Society of Cincinnati, and clerk of the Supreme Judicial Court. He died in Boston, Nov. 21, 1833.

In the oration of Mr. Callender it is remarked "that our Revolution was so little disgraced by cruelty and injustice, much is due to the exertions of our clergy; and it is with pride I here offer my humble tribute of applause to that devout and learned profession. The holy precepts of our religion which they inculcated, and the bright examples of virtue which they exhibited, gave them a great and merited influence with the people. To their eternal honor be it recorded, that influence, exerted on the side of liberty and humanity, in a great measure restrained those wild excesses which have too frequently blasted in the execution a cause designed by the noblest motives of the human mind."

JOSIAH QUINCY.

JULY 4, 1798. FOR THE TOWN AUTHORITIES.

OUR orator remarks, with nervous vigor: "The factious spirits whose intrigues have produced such losses and distress to the United States, and forced our federated stars from the pathway of peace and heaven, are servile copyists of those ancient enemies of colonial independence. They have neither the claim of originals, the merit of ingenuity, or the charm of novelty. It is not a mere general resemblance; it is the old piece in a new position, the same in character and attitude, in expression and passion, in drapery and design. The tories and royalists of old time, compared with the true friends of America, were a small and weak party, unable to acquire the confidence of the people. Ambition which cannot be gratified by honorable means has a sure resource in intrigue. Their invitations stimulated and encouraged aggression. They marked out the plan for our enemies.