1898.] SACHSE — AN OLD BROADSIDE. 49 



I allude to the canopied throne in Independence Hall, a piece of 

 ornamental furniture occupied by the Speaker of the Continental 

 Congress at the time when Independence was declared, and which 

 remained a feature of the historic room until some time after the 

 Revolution. 



Nothing can be farther from our idea of the birth of American 

 liberty than the introduction upon the scene of a throne with royal 

 emblazonment. The mere suggestion would seem like a desecra- 

 tion of our most cherished sanctuary, where assembled the noble 

 patriots who declared these Colonies free and independent. It 

 certainly does seem like an incongruity to picture John Hancock, 

 him of the bold signature, descending from a throne or anything 

 that savored of monarchy ^to affix his autograph to the immortal 

 Declaration. 



No painting or engraving, so far as known to the writer, portrays 

 anything like such an accessory to the equipment of the chamber. 

 No artist appears to have had the temerity to give us a true view of 

 the Chamber of Assembly, with its gallery for the public and the 

 ornate trappings over the windows and Speaker's chair. The 

 memorable scene of signing the Declaration is generally depicted 

 as one of extreme republican simplicity, in fact painfully so, giving 

 the generations of the present day the impression that the interior 

 of the State House, the finest public building in the Colonies, was 

 as plain and devoid of ornamentation as a Quaker meeting-house, 

 and in every case, as it now appears, incorrect in most vital detail. 



Now, in the face of the accepted pictures of the Chamber of 

 Assembly, or east room of the State House, we here have the state- 

 ment of a picture of this throne, or, as it is called, " The Throne of 

 Congress," supported by the Book of Laws and the Sword. And 

 this picture appears as described on the handkerchief. 



Unsupported by corroborative evidence, this statement would 

 most likely, in the absence of the original, be received as a piece of 

 artistic or poetic license on the part of the artist who sketched the 

 design, and who for purposes of his own inserted a symbol of royalty 

 so distasteful to patriots of all nations. 



I will now read a piece of evidence in support of the existence of 

 a throne in the east room. It was written by an eye-witness, the 

 Prince de Broglie, who visited the State House in 1782 : 



''The State House, where Congress assembles, as does the Coun- 

 cil of Pennsylvania, and where also the Courts of Justice are held, 



PROC. AMER. PHILOS. SOC. XXXVII. 157. D. PRINTED MAY 17, 1898. 



