Communicated for the Enquirer.
At a numerous meeting of the citizens of Cumberland County, held at the Courthouse on the 24th July, 1826, for the commemoration of the deaths of Thomas Jefferson and John Adams, the County Court having adjourned in order to afford an opportunity for that purpose, Major John Hatcher (a revolutionary soldier) was called to the chair, and George H. Matthews, Esq. was appointed Secretary: Whereupon Capt. John Miller addressed the meeting in the following words:
Mr. Chairman—You have heard the funeral knell that is sounding through our land. Our illustrious fellow-citizens, Jefferson and the elder Adams, are no more. These distinguished benefactors of their country, and of the human race, “now live only in the memory of their own great actions, and the hearts of an affectionate and afflicted people.” On that day, city years from the day on which they together signed our Declaration of Independence, they breathed their last; on that day which the prophetic and patriotic spirit of one of them had predicted would be celebrated in all after time with “festivals, guns, bells, bonfires and illuminations,” after half a century’s enjoyment of the fruits of their labors, and of the “convolatory reflection, that their fellow-citizens,” from a full experience of its benefits, “continued to approve the perilous and doubtful choice they had to make for their country between submission and the sword,” their pure spirits took their flight to the eternal world, up-borne by the acclamations of ten millions of freemen, who were, at that moment, pouring out the tribute of gratitude for their services—unconscious of their impending misfortune. The loss of such men is, at all times, just cause of grief to the whole human family; but especially does it become the favored country which has given them birth, and to whose happiness, independence and freedom, their best exertions were devoted, to pay to their memory the homage of their gratitude, affection and respect. I, therefore, move you that a committee be appointed to prepare resolutions expressive of the sense of this meeting, on the melancholy occasion which has called us together.
Whereupon the Chairman appointed John Miller, John C. Page, Dr. George W. Crump, Randolph Harrison, Allen Wilson, Daniel A. Wilson, Francis B. Deane, jr. Everard Jones, Wm. M. Thornton, Nelson Page, Col. M. Langhorne, Dr. Wm. B. Smith, James Hobson and Dr. John Trent, a committee, who reported the following preamble and resolutions, which were unanimously adopted:
When, in the course of Providence, our greatest benefactors are removed from this world, it is manly to weep. Such a cause of grief we acknowledge and deplore in the deaths of our illustrious fellow citizens, Thomas Jefferson and John Adams, the one the author, the other the ablest advocate of our Declaration of Independence; a composition, which, for elegance of diction, correctness of sentiment, and the manly spirit of freedom that breathes in every line, is unrivaled by any other production in the English language, and deserves to be transmitted to endless generations, in the fairest page of history, and to “become the signal of arousing men, throughout the world, to burst the chains, under which, monkish ignorance and superstition, had persuaded them to bind themselves, and to assume the blessings and security of self-government.” Were this the only monument to their fame, it would be sufficient to immortalize their names. But not so: Throughout the perilous and stormy conflict of the revolution, they were among its first and most efficient advocates; and contributed as much, by their bold, fearless, and decisive councils, to its happy result, as any of their compatriots did or could—except the man who has been universally admitted, at all times, and under all circumstances, to be “first in war, first in peace, and first in the hearts of his Countrymen,” the beloved, the immortal Washington, the father of his country.—The unexampled period of sixty-one years of the life of our venerated Jefferson, was employed in the most arduous, important, and responsible public duties, involving the good of his native state, of his country, and of mankind; which he discharged with a zeal and ardor which no difficulties could abate, an ability, which the weight of years could not impair, and a devotion to the great rights of man, that the near approach of death itself could not extinguish. But it is not our purpose to recite the history of these sages of the revolution, or their eulogy. And it would be unnecessary—they are already written in the hearts of their country-men.
We rather recur to the memorable and glorious circumstances attending their deaths. On the Jubilee Anniversary of that great day on which they together signed, they together hallowed by their death and parting benedictions, the sacred instrument that gave birth to a nation. It was the very day on which it was the express wish of one of them (and doubtless it was the fervent aspiration of the other,) that he might be permitted to depart, and repose in the bosom of his father and his God. How solemn and affecting this second and last appeal, on the verge of the grave, “to the Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of those intentions;” with which, in the dawn of their lives, they, with the host of worthies who joined them in the deed, declared these states “free and independent;” and for the support of that declaration, “with a firm reliance on divine Providence for protection, mutually pledged to each other their lives, their fortunes, & their sacred honor!” We mean no impiety, when we say, that God, by these special acts of his Providence, seems to have set to his seal that their work was good, and to have confirmed the important truths which they so gloriously asserted and illustrated, both in life and in death. Solemnly and awfully impressed with these feelings and sentiments: Therefore
Resolved, unanimously, That the members of this meeting will wear crape on the left arm for thirty days, as a testimony of gratitude for the services, of sympathy for the death, and respect for the memory, of our illustrious benefactors, Thomas Jefferson and John Adams.
Resolved, As a further testimonial of the estimation in which we hold the character and services of Thomas Jefferson, the favourite son of Virginia, that the delegates of this county be instructed to vote for the erection of some durable memorial at the Seat of Government, to perpetuate his memory and illustrate his public worth.
Resolved, That the foregoing proceedings be published in the Richmond papers.
JOHN HATCHER, Chair’n.
George H. Matthews, Sec’ry.
Gentlemen— At a meeting of the citizens of Bent Creek and its vicinity, on the 24th just, at Mr. Wm. H. Wingfield’s Tavern, in order to manifest their keen regret, for the much lamented death of Thomas Jefferson and John Adams Richard Clarke, esq. being called to the Chair, and Dr. Jas Pankey appointed Secretary, a concise address was delivered by the Secretary, expressive of the object of the meeting, and a committee having been appointed for the purpose, the following preamble and resolutions were unanimously adopted:
We, the citizens of Bent Creek and its neighborhood, view with poignant regret, the dispensation of Divine Providence, which has numbered with the dead our beloved countryman, Thomas Jefferson, the Philanthropist, the Statesman, the Philosopher, the Writer of the Declaration of Independence, and John Adams, who with his co-worker and compatriot, Jefferson, acted in drawing and warmly supporting the Declaration Of Independence: —but whilst they deeply lament the mortality of their bodies, they conceive resignation and gratitude to the will of Heaven, a virtue that should be cherished in the bosom of every person enjoying the choicest blessings of God, to the United States, in the gift of a Jefferson and Adams, inspired as they conceive with the purest principles and clearest light on the natural and inherent rights of man, who were mainly instrumental in the formation of that government, that Free men delight in, and Tyrants abhor; who were kindly permitted to remain, cultivate and mature the name with the benedictions of wisdom and experience, annually demonstrating the strength of the pillars, and the beauty and security of the edifice, for fifty years; when in obedience to the special invitation of Heaven, on the day of their country’s Jubilee; on the day when the heart of every patriot throbbed high with emotions of joy, they as it were, hand in hand, bade adieu to ten millions of their legatees, and gently glided into the mansions of rest.
Resolved Therefore. As a testimony of respect, to the memory of the deceased, that we will wear the usual badge of mourning on the left arm for thirty days.
Resolved. That the Rev. Thomas Barge be respectfully invited to deliver a sermon on the occasion, on the 2d day of August next, at the house formerly occupied by James Fariss, in Bent Creek; and that James Pankey be solicited to close the solemn exercise of the day, by a Prayer suitable to the occasion.
Resolved. That all the revolutionary soldiers and patriots of the adjacent vicinities, be respectfully invited to attend, and that they take their seats together before the Orator.
Resolved. That all who attend are respectfully invited to wear the badge of mourning also.
Resolved. That a copy of the foregoing proceedings, be published in the Richmond Enquirer, the Lynchburg Virginian, and Central Gazette.
RICHARD CLARKE, Chairman.
James Pankey, Secretary.
Communicated for the Enquirer
At a meeting of the citizens of Powhatan county, called at the courthouse, on the 20th inst. (that being court day) for the purpose of adopting resolutions expressive of their grief for the death and their gratitude for the long-continued and transcendently important services of their late fellow citizen Thomas Jefferson, Thomas Miller Esq. was called to the Chair and Abner Crump was appointed Secretary.
Whereupon a motion was made and adopted, that the Chairman should appoint a committee to prepare and report to the meeting a preamble and resolutions upon the subject; the following gentlemen were appointed a committee accordingly: viz. Mr. J. M. Pleasants, Dr. Wm. Crump, Maj. Jacob Michaux, John Gilliam, W. A. Turpin, Jordon Flournoy, Wm. Pope, Col. James Clarke, Samuel Jones, Claiborne, Watkins, John Goode, sr. Edward Baptist, Wm. S. Dince, Wm. Lagun.
The committee having withdrawn for some time, reported the following preamble and resolutions, which were upon questions severally put thereupon, unanimously adopted by the meeting.
The people of Powhatan, in general meeting assembled, feeling, as they do, the most profound respect and veneration for the memory of their justly distinguished countryman Thomas Jefferson, late President of these United States, and being deeply impressed with a grateful recollection of his many and important services rendered in asserting the independence, and in securing and maintaining the civil and religious liberties of their beloved country:
Resolve, 1st. That the citizens of this county be requested to wear the usual badge of mourning for thirty days.
Resolve, 2d. That their delegates to the General Assembly be instructed to use their best exertions to cause a suitable monument to be erected to his memory, and ample provision to be made for his only child, whom he bequeathed to his country in the same breath that he bequeathed and surrendered his soul to his God.
Be it further resolved. That they hold in grateful remembrance the revolutionary services of the late President of the United States, John Adams, the distinguished compatriot of Thomas Jefferson; they were united in the same great struggle for liberty and they were not separated in death.
Resolved. That the preceding preamble and resolutions be signed by the Chairman and Secretary, and be published in the Richmond Enquirer and Constitutional Whig.
THOMAS MILLER, Chairman.
Abner Crump, Secretary.
Communicated for the Enquirer
At a respectable meeting of the citizens of the county of Halifax, at the courthouse, on the 19th day of July, in the year 1826, for the purpose of expressing their sincere sorrow at the providential dispensation, which has deprived them of their revered and illustrious fellow citizens Thomas Jefferson and John Adams, William B. Bank was appointed chairman of the meeting and Thomas H. Averett Secretary. On motion, it was resolved, that Edward C. Carrington, Granville Craddock, Daniel L. Dunscomb, Henry E. Scott, William B. Banks, and Thomas H. Averett be appointed a committee for the purpose of preparing a Preamble and Resolutions, expressive of the feelings and sentiments of this meeting on the subject; and that the committee do prepare a preamble and resolutions to be submitted to an adjourned meeting this Evening at 4 o’clock.
The committee to whom the subject mentioned in the foregoing resolution was referred, made the following Report, which was unanimously adopted:
The people of the county of Halifax have heard with the most profound sorrow and regret, of the Providential dispensation which has deprived them of two of their most illustrious fellow citizens, patriots and statesmen, Thomas Jefferson and John Adams, both of them signers of the Declaration of Independence—both of them cotemporaries, compatriots, and fellow labourers in support of the glorious cause, which terminated in the Independence and Freedom of the United States. On this occasion we cannot express the extent of our grief, or testify by language, the profound respect and veneration we feel for those men, who were among the most active and intrepid defenders of the rights of their country—who signed the instrument which has consecrated their names, and will transmit their fame to the most distant posterity, as the Benefactors of their country, the votaries of Liberty, and the Friends of mankind. Between these two men we deem it improper to make invidious comparisons, by contrasting their talents, their virtues, their principles, their speculative opinions, or their services; they have both given the most unequivocal proofs of their devotion to the interests, the happiness, and the freedom of their country; they both have rendered the most signal services; both have received the highest testimonials of the confidence, affection and gratitude of their fellow citizens. We do not intend to write the Biography of these illustrious men; or to erect monuments to their memories—The history of such men will be read in the eyes of an afflicted nation; their highest and most impressive Eulogium will be the pen of the impartial Historian, who will hand down to posterity a faithful narratrive of the magnificent & glorious events, in which they bore a noble and conspicuous part. To enumerate their services, would be to write a history of the Republic; to attempt to estimate them, would be to see a value on the inestimable privileges which are secured to us by those invaluable Institutions which are the guarantees of our property, our lives, and the greatest of all human blessings—our Liberty.
It seems to be a very peculiar, if not a miraculous dispensation, that these illustrious men, should have closed their mortal career on the anniversary of our Independence; on the same day on which they signed the sacred instrument, which has given independence and freedom to their country, and has secured immortality to their names. If the 4th of July has heretofore been regarded as forming an important epoch in the annals of the world, in all future times, it will be regarded with still greater reverence and respect by the recollection of its being the day on which two of the best first and greatest of our Revolutionary Patriots have closed their mortal existence covered with honor, with fame, and the affectionate regards of a free, virtuous and enlightened people. We consider it especially due to Mr. Jefferson, as a native of Virginia, to say, that in death, his native state has sustained an irreparable loss which she feels with the keenest sensibility; the arts and sciences have been deprived of their most enlightened patron and protector; the cause of Freedom, of an intrepid advocate and defender, and society of its brightest and most polished ornament.
To say more of such men, whose history is Indentified with the freedom of their country and the glorious events of the Revolution, and whose memory is embalmed in the hearts of their grateful and affectionate countrymen, would be idle and superfluous:
Resolved therefore, That as a testimonial of the respect and reverence which we feel for the characters of Thomas Jefferson and John Adams, we will wear a badge of mourning on the left arm for the space of thirty days.
Resolved. That the Rev. Philemon Hart, and the Rev. Stephen Taylor be requested to deliver funeral Orations at Halifax courthouse, on the 5th Sunday in this month, on the deaths of Thomas Jefferson and John Adams, former Presidents of the U. States.
Resolved. That the Editors of the Enquirer & Whig be requested to publish in their respective papers the foregoing preamble and resolutions.
WILL B. BANKS, Chairman.
Thomas H. Averett, Secretary.