Page:History of the United States of America, Spencer, v1.djvu/344

, although a decided Congregationalist himself, declared that he was ready to join in prayer with any gentleman of piety and virtue, whatever might be his cloth, provided he was a friend to his country; and he thereupon moved that the Rev. Jacob Duché, rector of Christ church, Philadelphia, be invited to officiate as chaplain. Mr. Duché accepted the invitation, and officiated in his robes, using the service of the Episcopal Church. Washington, following the custom of the church of which he was a member, knelt in prayer with great seriousness and devotion.

This scene is so graphically depicted in a letter from John Adams to his wife, September 16th, 1774, that we cannot forbear to quote it for the gratification of the reader. Having stated that Mr. Duché appeared "with his clerk and pontificals," Adams goes on to relate, that he "read several prayers in the established form, and then read the Collect (the Psalter) for the seventh day of September, which was the thirty-fifth Psalm. You must remember this was the next morning after we heard the horrible rumor of the cannonade of Boston. I never saw a greater effect upon an audience. It seems as if Heaven had ordained that Psalm to be read on that morning. After this, Mr. Duché, unexpectedly to everybody, struck out into an extemporary prayer, which filled the bosom of every man present. I must confess I never heard a better prayer, or one so well pronounced. Episcopalian as he is, Dr. Cooper himself never prayed with such fervor, such ardor, such earnestness and pathos, and in language so elegant and sublime—for America, for the Congress, for the province of Massachusetts Bay and especially the town of Boston. It has had an excellent effect upon everybody here. I must beg you to read that Psalm. If there was any faith in the Sortes Virgilianæ, or Sortes Homericæ, or especially in the Sortes Biblicæ, it would be thought providential. Mr.Duché is one of the most ingenious men, and best characters, and greatest orators, in the Episcopal order, upon this continent—yet a zealous friend of liberty and his country."

Congress having resolved to sit with closed doors, the world has been deprived of the eloquent and wise words which fell from various members during its discussions. Their action is all that is on record. A committee of two from each colony was appointed to examine into the rights of the colonies and the instances in which they had been violated, as well as to suggest the most suitable means for obtaining redress. A "Declaration of Colonial Eights," was agreed upon with great unanimity. This document is worthy careful perusal, and is as follows:—

"Whereas, since the close of the last war, the British Parliament, claiming a power of right to bind the people of America by statutes in all cases whatsoever, hath in some acts expressly imposed taxes on them; and in others, under various pretences, but in fact for the purpose of raising a revenue, hath