ADDRESS OF WELCOME.
Mr. Adams:
I have been deputed by my fellow-citizens,of all parties, to bid you a hearty welcome to thiscity. I have been directed, Sir, to tender to you thehospitalities of the people, and of the corporateauthorities of this, and of our young, but flourishing,sister of Allegheny.
We have not strewed flowers in your path, norerected triumphal arches at your approach, but greetyou with the homage of grateful hearts, as evinced inthis spontaneous outpouring of the people. Here,Sir, is the token of that universal regard in whichyou are held by the free citizens of this great country.And here, Sir, you have the reward for a long life ofmeritorious public service.
What can be more endearing to the heart of thepatriot, than this exhibition of public sentiment;than this manifestation of love for your person, andadmiration for your exalted talents and virtues. Likethe son of Marcus Cato, you have been a foe to tyrants,[pg 4]and your country's friend, and that countrynow tenders to you the tribute of her affection andgratitude.
You seem, Sir, "like the aged oak, standing aloneon the plain, which time has spared a little longer,after all its cotemporaries have been levelled withthe dust," but the people delight to gather round thevenerable trunk, and dwell beneath the shadow of itsyet green foliage.
Associated as you have been with the Father ofhis Country, partaking largely of his confidence, anddeeply imbued with the lofty patriotism of his character,it must be gratifying to you, to visit this, thetheatre of his earliest achievements.
Here, standing on the portals of the Mississippivalley, his prophetic eye reaching far into futurity,he saw the materials for that great empire, with itsteeming millions, that now revere and venerate hisname. Here it was that Providence thrice sparedhis invaluable life. Once, on the Venango path,when the rifle of the warrior flashed in the pan.Again, when his frail raft gave way, and he was precipitatedamid ice and snow, and the raging ofthe elements, into the rapid waters of the Allegheny.And again, on the shores of the Monongahela,when Braddock, and Halket, and Peyronneyfell, by the deadly aim of the French and Indians.Two horses shot under him, his clothes perforatedwith bullets, himself a bright and shining mark, yet[pg 5]the leaden messengers were turned aside by an invisibleHand, and he was saved to lead the armies of hiscountry to victory, and to lay deep that preciouscorner-stone of civil polity, that has no parallel in thehistory of the world.
Here it was that in the wigwams, and partaking ofthe hospitality of King Shingiss and Queen Allaquippa,his heart imbibed that warm and activebenevolenc