354 HISTORY OF THE COUNTY OF WESTCHESTER. 



leviate our grief and mortification for this act, we have to offer the incorruptible 

 integrity of three militia men in the common walks of life, (where virtue always 

 resides, ) in whose breasts all ordinary springs of action were absorbed by the 

 love of liberty, and whose enthusiastic ardor in the cause was regulated and 

 guided by prudence and firmness ; and we have it to say, too, that if one proud, 

 envious, canker-hearted General had his price, our soldiers were above purchase! 

 — that if treason found its way to the stronghold and the citadel, it was in the 

 end crushed at the outposts. To commemorate this event, that posterity should 

 not lose sight of it — that future ages should understand it by full and satisfactory 

 proof — that our countrymen know how to respect and value patriotism as well 

 as to practice it — that they were as ready to render justice to the merits of 

 a private soldier, as to the officer highest in rank — and to show, too, that our 

 Revolution was achieved by principles of the highest order, we have assembled 

 to erect this monument. Such an act is in conformity with the usages of the 

 wisest of nations in every period of history, and, whenever neglected, has been 

 a source of censure and regret ; such an act is in conformity with the habits of 

 our own country, for it is consonant to a sense of gratitude in every bosom. Monu- 

 ments are now rising to the heroes of the Revolution in every part of the United 

 States. Montgomery, Warren, De Kalb and others, are now remembered by a 

 grateful people; and on the banks of our majestic Hudson has lately been placed 

 a tasteful monument to the great and good Kosciusko, who dispensed honors and 

 rewards for the freedom of man. This last tribute of respect has sprung from the 

 purest of all sources— from the bosoms of the youthful soldiers of our national 

 military school, whose pursuits lead them to search history, and to canvass every 

 military character for models of the patriot soldier. 



The time, fellow citizens, is fast coming, when the actors in our revolutionary 

 scenes will live but in the remembrance of the few, and in the annals of our 

 country; more or less of their number are daily passing to their eternal rest. 

 Within a few days past, the citizens of this county and of this nation were called 

 to mourn the loss of one of the most distinguished members of that valiant band 

 — the great, 'the illustrious John Jay, the American Fabricius : and even while I 

 am speaking, there are only here and there one of the men of that age to be seen ; 

 and he, with whitened locks and solemn demeanor, standing on the confines of 

 eternity — and taking, as it were, a farewell of us and of all the present genera- 

 tion. « 



Illustrious relics of a patriotic age! ye shall not be forgotten when you shall 

 have passed away. Monuments shall arise to your fame, written over with the 

 story of your deeds. You have lifted your warning voices to us to be virtuous 

 and united, and they shall be heard ; your principles shall not be lost — your ex- 

 amples shall have their influence — your very monuments shall have a tongue 

 that shall never be silent in teaching us how to live and how to die. The vir- 

 tuous of one generation are monuments for the next, and so onward in the pro- 

 cession of ages. We know that our country is yet in its youth, and is still form- 

 ing its habits and fixing its principles; and I thank God, that among her best 

 habits is that of cherishing the memory of her benefactors. The deed 1 hat we 

 are now doing, my friends, in gratitude and modesty, is not to be done for this 

 day alone. In some distant period, when the traveller shall inquire of our des- 



a The late General Philip Van Cortlandt. 



