OU doubtless all remember that Robert Burns said of his Epistle to a Young Friend, "Perhaps it may turn out a song, perhaps a sermon." As I am quite sure my production will "turn out a sermon," I have chosen a text which you will find on the west face of the Pillar of Liberty, in these words: Maxime Patrono Pitt.

According to the

The Pillar of LIBERTY Diary of Dr. Nath

Erectd by the Sons of Liberty

in this Vicinity

Laus DEO REGI,etImmuntatTM autoribusqmaxime Patrono PITT, qui Rempub.nurfumevulfit.

Faucibus Orci

aniel Ames, these words were chiseled in the hard

granite on the 11th or 12th day of

July, 1766. Their

author was doubt

less Dr. Ames him

self, under the

advice, however, of

the Sons of Liberty, an assocation,

or society, whose members were to be found, probably, in all the more important towns of the thirteen American Colonies.

This paper was read at a meeting of the Dedham Historical Society, held on May 7, 1896. For a full account of the Pillar, by Erastus Worthington, see Anniversary Proceedings of the Town, 1886, pages 170-177, and for a brief account see REGISTER, I. 140. A view of the Pillar and bust as they appeared in 1802 will be found in Vol. I. page 121. See also Vol. II. pages 60, 96, 97, 118.

"Patrono", as it is used in this connection, expresses the relation in which William Pitt was regarded as standing to the American Colonies. The question at once arises whether this relation of patron, or protector, was purely voluntary, for which no compensation was promised, or expected. I find no intimation from any source that any hope of reward influenced the Great Commoner to espouse the cause of the colonies. But the fact that he voluntarily took up their defence, and gave them the benefit of his matchless eloquence and wide popularity, made them eager to engrave on imperishable stone their acknowledg ment that he was the chief defender of their liberties.

By the word patrono, then, we are reminded that in a Parliament 3000 miles away, he stood as the one distinguished protector of Colonial rights, and was regarded by the colonists themselves as having peculiar claims to their confidence and affection. The freedmen of ancient Rome had their patrons, generally their former masters, to defend their interests: so the freemen of America, who had never been, and never could be, slaves, looked to William Pitt as their patron, who had now a second time rescued them from impending serfdom. Such are the ideas suggested by the word "patrono", which the stone-cutter Howard entrusted to the granite block, still remaining to express the gratitude of men who then were content to be the subjects of a British sovereign.

An inscription of this import would not have been made at a much later day. It was among the later avowals of colonial allegiance and loyalty; and as the name of Pitt alone of all the great Englishmen of that time was thus honored, it becomes us to keep ourselves familiar with a character which was so revered both in England and throughout her colonies. To enable us to do this, I have collected from various sources some facts of his remarkable career, giving special attention and prominence to those which connected him with the history of the American Colonies and their struggle in defence of their liberties.

William Pitt belonged to a family "not of great distinction, but well respected," that held the suffrage rights of Old Sarum,