I believe it to be the mind of the men of New England ancestry who live in New York to-day, that the Church, if it is to exist here, shall exist for use, and not for ornament; that it shall exist to make our streets cleaner, to make our tenement-houses better built and better drained and better ventilated; to respect the rights of the poor man in regard to fresh air and light, as well as the rights of the rich man.  And in order that it shall do these things, and that the Church of New York shall exist not for ornament but for use, I, as one of the descendants of New England ancestors, ask no better thing for it than that it shall have, not only among those who fill its pulpits, men of New England ancestry, but also among those who sit in its pews men of New England brains and New England sympathies, and New England catholic generosity! [Continued applause.]

ROGER ATKINSON PRYOR

VIRGINIA’S PART IN AMERICAN HISTORY

[Speech of Roger A. Pryor at the annual banquet of the New York State Bar Association, given in the City of Albany, January 15, 1889.  The President, Martin W. Cooke, introduced Justice Pryor in these words:  “The next in order is the benediction.  There is no poetical sentiment accompanying this toast, but if you will bear with me I promise you learning, poetry, and eloquence.  To that end I call upon General Roger A. Pryor.”]

MR. CHAIRMAN:—­I don’t know what I am to respond to.  I have no text; I have no topic.  What am I to talk about?  I am not only unlike other gentlemen, taken by surprise, but I am absolutely without a subject, and what am I to say?  I don’t know but that, as His Excellency the Governor of this Imperial State expatiated, eloquently and justly, upon the achievements and glories of New York, it might be pardoned me in saying something of my own native State.

What has Virginia done for our common country?  What names has she contributed to your historic roll?  She has given you George Washington. [Applause.] She has given you Patrick Henry, who first sounded the signal of revolt against Great Britain.  She has given you John Marshall, who so profoundly construed the Constitution formed by Madison and Hamilton.  She has given you Thomas Jefferson, the author of the Declaration of Independence. [Applause.] She has given you Madison and Monroe.  Where is there such a galaxy of great men known to history?  You talk of the age of Pericles and of Augustus, but remember, gentlemen, that at that day Virginia had a population of only one-half the population of the city of Brooklyn to-day, and yet these are the men that she then produced to illustrate the glory of Americans.