HISTORY OF BROOKLYN. 375

propriate sepulture. Against this Mr. Romaine remonstrated. He said: “I have guarded these sacred remains with a reverence which, perhaps, at this day, all may not appreciate or feel, for more than thirty years. They are now in their right place, near the Wallabout, and adjoining the Navy-yard. They are my property. I have expended more than nine hundred dollars in and about their protection and preservation. I commend them to the protection of the General Government. I bequeath them to my country. This concern is very sacred to me. It lies near my heart. I suffered with those whose bones I venerate. I fought beside them—I bled with them.” In consequence of this remonstrance, nothing was then done. But after the old man had passed away, in the year 1845, public attention was again called to the neglected condition of these remains, and the matter was also brought to the attention of the National Congress, by a report introduced by the Military Committee to the House of Representatives,1 recommending an appropriation of $20,000 for the purpose of affording a secure tomb and fitting monument to the Martyrs. This also failed of its object, and the matter slept for ten years. At the expiration of that period, in 1855, a large and influential meeting of the citizens of Brooklyn was held, at which it was resolved, “that the time has arrived when the cities of New York and Brooklyn cannot, without criminality, longer delay the necessary efforts for rearing the monument to the martyrs of the prison-ships,” and an organization was formed for the purpose, entitled. “The MartyrsÕ Monument Association,” in which each Senatorial District in the State of New York, and each State and Territory, is represented. They set to work with commendable activity, selecting a fitting site—the lofty summit of Fort Greenesecured plans for the proposed monument, agitated the subject publicly and privately, solicited donations, etc., and “yet there is no

sold for taxes, to become its purchaser; and it was this which, through all his subsequent life, made him cling with jealous care to the custody of these rennainsÑconstantly protesting against any disposal being made of them, except by the General Government, which he rightly considered as the only proper custodian. It has been a sincere pleasure thus to collect these facts concerning this patriotic and useful citizen; and we can only regret that the diligent inquiries which we have made have resulted in eliciting so little information concerning him.

1 This report, drawn up by the Hon. Henry C. Murphy, of Brooklyn, forms Document No. 177, Rep. of no. of Reps., 1844-45.