LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 
 
 014 077 002 4 
 
ADDRESS 
 
 MEMBERS OF THE CITY COUNCIL, 
 
 REMOVAL 
 
 MUNICIPAL GOVERNMENT, 
 
 OLD STATE UOUST,. 
 
 BY HARRISON GRAY OTIS, 
 
 MAYOR OF THE CITY OF BOSTOjV. 
 
 BOSTON: 
 
 JOHN H. EASTBURN....CITY PRINTER. 
 
 MDCCCXXX. 
 

 (6_<f-e-.<-^>-^^ (_X^Mjl^>^j^ji.<.-.» ^^ 
 
 CITY OF BOSTON. 
 In CoMMOJf Council, Skptember 17, 1830. 
 Ordered, That the Committee of ArrangeineiUs he, and they here- 
 by are, du-ected to i.resent to the Mayor the thanks of the City 
 Council, for the impressive an.l eloquent Address delivered hy hi.n 
 to the City Council in Convention, on the morning of this memora- 
 ble Aniversary, and to request a copy of the same for the press. 
 
 Sent up for Concurrence, 
 
 B. T. PICKMAN, Prcsidtnt. 
 
 In the Board of Aldervien, September 20, 1830. 
 
 Read and Concurred. ^ ^ ^^^^^ ^^^^^^^^ 
 
 A TRUE COPY — Attest, 
 
 S. F. M'CLEARY, City Chrk. 
 
 Boston, September 20, 1830. 
 
 the 
 
 Committee of Arrangements for the 
 
 Hcu'^.HjC!'.:Qti». 
 
 •'* *• '*TIie*'UnTT(?rsigiie^,* 
 £kMtUam,ii&lQ£li.'iir9iion oflh.e.Settlement of Boston, have the honor 
 1^oln4l4^ii)|i*^i/atl^slecrUi».y of a vote of the City Council, and re- 
 spectfully ask your compliance with the request contained therein. 
 
 Benjamin Russell, 
 AViNSLOW Lewis, 
 Benjamin T. Pickman, 
 Thomas Minns, 
 Joseph Eveleth, 
 John W. James, 
 John P. Bigelow, 
 AVashington P. Gragg. 
 
ADDRESS. 
 
 Gentlemen of the Common Council: 
 
 I have the honor to announce to you that the 
 Mayor and Aldermen have concurred with your re- 
 quest to change the name of this building, and to 
 order that it be henceforth called and known by the 
 name of the City Hall. 
 
 Gentlemen of the City Council^ 
 
 The intimations which I have received from many 
 individuals of your body, have left me no room to 
 doubt of your general expectation, that this first oc- 
 casion of our meeting in this Chamber should not be 
 permitted to pass away, without something more than 
 a brief record of the event upon your journals. — 
 The spot on which we are convened is Patriot 
 Ground. It was consecrated, by our pious ancestors, 
 to the duties of providing for the welfare of their 
 infmt settlement; and, for a long series of years, was 
 occupied, in succession, by the great and good men 
 whom Providence raised up to establish the institu- 
 tions and liberties of their country. 
 
 There are none, who have paid even a superficial 
 attention to the process of their perceptions, who are 
 
4 
 
 not conscious that a prolific source of intellectual 
 pleasures and pains is found in our faculty of associa- 
 ting the remembrance of characters and events, which 
 have most interested our aifections and passions, with 
 the spot whereon the first have lived and the latter have 
 occurred. It is to the magic of this local influence 
 that we are indebted, for the charm which recals the 
 sports and pastimes of our childhood, the joyous days 
 of youth, when buoyant spirits invested all surround- 
 ing objects with the color of the rose. It is this, which 
 brings before us, as we look back through the vista 
 of riper years, past enjoyments and afflictions, aspir- 
 ing hopes and bitter disappointments, the tempta- 
 tions we have encountered, the snares which have 
 entangled us, the dangers we have escaped, the 
 fidelity or treachery of friends. It is this, which en- 
 ables us to surround oiu'selves with the images of 
 those who were associates in the scenes we contem- 
 plate, and to hold sweet converse with the spirits of 
 the depart6d, whom we have loved or honoured, in 
 the places which shall know them no more. 
 
 But the potency of these local associations is not 
 limited to the sphere of our personal experience. — 
 We are qualified by it, to derive gratification from 
 what we have heard and read of other times, to 
 bring forth forgotten treasures from the recesses of 
 memory, and recreate fancy in the fields of im- 
 agination. The regions, which have been famed in 
 sacred or fabulous history ; the mountains, plains, 
 isles, rivers, celebrated in the classic page ; the seas, 
 traversed by the discoverers of new worlds ; the 
 fields, in w hich empires have been lost and u on, are 
 
scenes of enchantment for the visiter, who indulges 
 the trains of perception which either rush unbidden 
 on his mind, or are courted by its vohmtary efforts. 
 This faculty it is, which, united with a disposition 
 to use it to advantage, alone gives dignity to the 
 passion for visiting foreign countries, and distinguish- 
 es the philosopher, who moralizes on the turf that 
 covers the mouldering dust of ambition, valour, or pa- 
 triotism, from the fashionable vagabond, who flutters 
 among the flowers which bloom over their graves. 
 
 Among all the objects of mental association, an- 
 cient buildings and ruins affect us with the deepest 
 and most vivid emotions. They were the works of 
 beings like ourselves. While a mist, impervious to 
 mortal view, hangs over the future, all our fond 
 imaginings of the things which " eye hath not seen 
 nor ear heard," in the eternity to come, are inevita- 
 bly associated with the men, the events and things, 
 which have gone to join the eternity that is past. — 
 When imagination has in vain essayed to rise beyond 
 the stars which "proclaim the story of their birth," in- 
 quisitive to know the occupations and condition of 
 the sages and heroes whom we hope to join in a 
 higher empyrean, she drops her weary wing, and is 
 compelled to alight among the fragments of " gor- 
 geous palaces and cloud-capp'd towers," which cover 
 their human ruins, and by aid of these localities, to 
 ruminate upon their virtues and their faults, on their 
 deeds in the cabinet and in the field, and upon the 
 revolutions of the successive ages in which they 
 lived. To this propensity may be traced the subli- 
 mated feelings of the man, who, familiar with the 
 stories of Sesostris, the Pharaohs, and the Ptolemies, 
 
surveys the pyramids, not merely as stupendous fa- 
 brics of mechanical skill, but as monuments of the 
 pride and ambitious folly of kings, and of the debase- 
 ment and oppression of the wretched myriads, by 
 whose labors they were raised to the skies. To this 
 must be referred the awe and contrition which solemn- 
 ize and melt the heart of the Christian, who looks 
 into the Holy Sepulchre, and believes he sees the 
 place where the Lord was laid. From this originate 
 the musin2;s of the scholar, who, amid the ruins of 
 the Parthenon and the Acropolis, transports his im- 
 agination to the age of Pericles and Phidias ; — the 
 reflections of all, not dead to sentiment, who descend 
 to the subterranean habitation of Pompeii — handle 
 the utensils that once ministered to the wants, and 
 the ornaments subservient to the luxury, of a polished 
 city — behold the rut of wheels, upon the pavement 
 hidden for a^es from human siii;ht — and realize the 
 awful hour, when the hum of industry and the song 
 of joy, the wailing of the infant and the garrulity of 
 age, were suddenly and forever silenced by the fiery 
 deluge which buried the city, until accident and in- 
 dustry, after the lapse of nearly eighteen centuries, 
 revealed its ruins to the curiosity and cupidity of the 
 passing age. 
 
 These remarks, in which you may think there is 
 more of truth than of nov elty, have been suggested 
 by the experiment which a few days since I attempt- 
 ed, to condense in the compass of a short address, a 
 few ideas appropriate to this cccasion. Beginning 
 to think upon matters connected with the old Town 
 House, I found my mind confused, and overwhelmed 
 with the nndtitudinous associations of our early his- 
 
tory, which it naturally induced. To indulge them to 
 a great extent, would trench upon the province and 
 the hour assigned to another, whose eloquence will 
 furnish the principal gratification of the day. It is 
 therefore indispensable, to confine myself to a few 
 observations, and consequently to do but imperfect 
 justice to my feelings and the subject. 
 
 The history of the Town House, considered mere- 
 ly as a compages of brick and wood, is short and sim- 
 ple. It was erected between the years 1657 and 
 1659, and was principally of wood, as far as can be 
 ascertained. The contractor received six hundred 
 and eighty pounds, on a final settlement in full of all 
 contracts. This was probably the whole amount of 
 the cost, being double that of the estimate — a ratio 
 pretty regularly kept up in our times. The popula- 
 tion of the town, sixty years afterwards, was about 
 ten thousand ; and it is allowing an increase beyond 
 the criterion of its actual numbers at subsequent pe- 
 riods, to presume that at the time of the first erec- 
 tion of the Town House, it numbered three thousand 
 souls. In 1711 the building was burnt to the ground, 
 and soon afterwards built with brick. In 1747 the 
 interior was again consumed by fire, and soon re- 
 paired, in the form which it retained until the present 
 improvement, with the exception of some alterations 
 in the apartments, made upon the removal of the 
 Legislature to the new State House. The eastern 
 chamber was originally occupied by the Council ; 
 afterwards by the Senate. The Representatives 
 constantly held their sittings in the western cham- 
 ber. The floor of these was supported by pillars. 
 
8 
 
 and terminated at each end by doors, and at one end 
 by a flight of steps leading into State street. In the 
 day time the doors were kept open, and the floor 
 served as a walk for the inhabitants, always much 
 frequented, and during the sessions of the courts, 
 thronged. On the north side, were offices for the 
 clerks of the supreme and inferior courts. In these, 
 the judges robed themselves, and walked in proces- 
 sion, followed by the bar, at the opening of the 
 courts. Committee rooms were provided in the 
 upper story. Since the removal of the Legislature, 
 it has been internally divided into apartments, and 
 leased for various uses in a mode familiar to you 
 all, and it has now undergone great repairs. This 
 floor being adapted to the accommodation of the City 
 Government, and its principal officers, while the first 
 floor is allotted to the post office, news room, and 
 private warehouses. 
 
 In this brief account of the natural body of the 
 building, which it is believed comprehends whatever 
 is material, there is nothing, certainly, dazzling or ex- 
 traordinary. It exhibits no pomp of architectural 
 grandeur, or refined taste ; and has no pretensions to 
 vie with the magnificent structures of other countries, 
 or even of our own. Yet is it a goodly and venera- 
 ble pile — and with its recent improvements, is an or- 
 nament of the place, of whose liberty it was once the 
 citadel. And it has an interest for Bostonians who 
 enter it this day, like that which is felt by grown chil- 
 dren for an ancient matron by whom they were reared, 
 and whom, visiting after years of absence, they find 
 in her neat, chaste, old fashioned attire, spruced up 
 
to receive them, with her comforts about her, and the 
 same kind, hospitable and excellent creature whom 
 they left in less flourishing circumstances. But to 
 this edifice there is not only a natural but "a spiritual 
 body," which is the immortal soul of Independence. 
 Nor is there on the face of the earth, another building 
 however venerable for its antiquity, or stately in its 
 magnificence — however decorated by columns and por- 
 ticos, and cartoons, and statues and altars, and out- 
 shining " the wealth of Ormus or of Ind," entitled 
 in history to more honorable mention, or whose 
 spires and turrets are surrounded with a more glorious 
 halo, than this unpretending building. 
 
 This assertion might be justified, by a review of the 
 parts performed by those who have made laws, for a 
 century after the first settlement of Boston — of their 
 early contention for their chartered rights — of their 
 perils and difficulties with the natives— of their costly 
 and heroic exertions in favor of the mother country in 
 the common cause. — But I pass over them all, replete as 
 they are with interest — with wonder and with moral. 
 Events posterior to those growing out of them indeed, 
 and taking from them their complexion, are consider- 
 ed by reflecting men, as having produced more radical 
 changes in the character, relations, prospects, and (so 
 far as it becomes us to prophecy) in the destinies of 
 the human family, than all other events and revolu- 
 tions that have transpired since the Christian Era. 
 I do not say that the principles which have led to 
 these events originated here. But I venture to as- 
 sert that here, within these walls, they were first 
 practically applied to a well-regulated machinery of 
 2 
 
10 
 
 human passions, conscious riglits, and steady movfr 
 ments, which forcing these United States to the sum- 
 mit of prosperity, has been adopted as a model by 
 which other nations have been, and will yet be pro- 
 pelled on the rail road which leads to universal Free- 
 dom. The power of these engines is self-moving, and 
 the motion is perpetual. Sages and philosophers had 
 discovered that the world was made for the people 
 who inhabit it ; and that Kings were less entitled in 
 their own right to its government, than Lions, whose 
 claims to be lords of the forest are sujiported by phy- 
 sical prowess. But the books and treatises which 
 maintained these doctrines were read by the admirers 
 of the Lockes and Sidneys and Miltons and Harring- 
 tons, and replaced on their shelves as brilliant The- 
 ories. Or if they impelled to occasional action, it 
 ended in bringing new tyrants to the throne and sin- 
 cere patriots to the scaffold. But your progenitors 
 who occupied these seats first taught a whole people 
 systematically to combine the united force of their 
 moral and physical energies — to learn the rights of 
 insurrection not as written in the language of the 
 passions, but in codes and digests of its justifiable ca- 
 ses — to enforce them under the restraints of discipline 
 — to define and limit its objects — to be content with 
 success and to make sure of its advantages. — All this 
 they did, and when the propitious hour had arrived they 
 called on their countrymen as the Angel called upon 
 the Apostles, " Come rise up quickly, and the chains 
 fell from their hands." — The inspiring voice echoed 
 through the welkin in Europe and America and 
 awakened nations. He who would learn the effects 
 
I 
 
 11 
 
 of it, must read the history of the world for the last 
 half century. He who would anticipate the conse- 
 quences must ponder well the probabilities with 
 which time is pregnant, for the next. The memory 
 of these men is entitled to a full share of all the 
 honor arising from the advantage derived to mankind 
 from this change of condition, but yet is not chargea- 
 ble with the crimes and misfortunes, more than is 
 the memory of Fulton with the occasional bursting 
 of a boiler. 
 
 Shall I then glance rapidly at some of the scenes 
 and the actors who figured in them, within these 
 walls ? Shall I carry you back to the controversies 
 between Governor Barnard and the House of Repre- 
 sentatives, commencing nearly seventy years ago, 
 respecting the claims of the mother country to tax 
 the Colonies without their consent ? To the stand 
 made against writs of assistance in the chamber now 
 intended for your Mayor and Aldermen, where and 
 when according to John Adams, " Independence was 
 born?" and wdiose star was then seen in the East, by 
 wise men. To the memorable vindication of the 
 House of Representatives by one of its members ? 
 To the " Rights of the Colonies," adopted by the 
 legislature as a Text book, and transmitted by their 
 order to the British Ministry ? To the series of pa- 
 triotic resolutions protests and State papers teeming 
 with indignant eloquence and irresistible argument in 
 opposition to the Stamp and other tax acts ? — to the 
 landing and quartering of troops in the town ? To 
 the rescinding of resolutions in obedience to royal 
 mandates ? To the removal of the seat of Govern- 
 
12 
 
 ment and the untiring struggle in which the Legis- 
 lature was engaged for fourteen or fifteen years, sup- 
 ported by the Adamses, the Thachers, the Hawleys, 
 the Hancocks, the Bowdoins, the Quincys and their 
 illustrious colleagues ? In fact the most important 
 measures, which led to the emancipation of the 
 Colonies according to Hutchinson, a competent judge, 
 orginated in this house, — in this apartment — with 
 those men, who putting life and fortune on the issue, 
 adopted for their motto 
 
 *' Let such, such only tread this sacred floor 
 Who dare to love their country, and be poor." 
 
 Events of a different complexion are also asso- 
 ciated with the Boston Town House. At one time 
 it was desecrated by the king's troops quartered in 
 the Representatives chamber and on the lower floor. 
 At another time cannon were stationed and pointed 
 toward its doors. Belo^v the balcony in King's 
 street, on the doleful night of the fifth of March, the 
 blood of the first victims to the military executioners 
 was shed. On the appearance of the Governor, in 
 the street, he was surrounded by an immense throng, 
 who, to prevent mischief to his person, though he 
 had lost their confidence, forced him into this build- 
 ing, with the cry " To the Town House ! to the 
 Town House !" He then went forth into the bal- 
 cony and promising to use his endeavours to bring 
 the offenders to justice and advising the people to 
 retire, they dispersed vociferating. Home ! home ! 
 The Governor and Council remained all night delib- 
 erating in dismal conclave while the friends of their 
 country bedewed their pillows with tears — "such tears 
 
13 
 
 as Patriots shed for dying laws." But I would not 
 wish, under any circumstances to dwell upon inci- 
 dents like these — thankful as I am that time which 
 has secured our freedom, has extinguished our re- 
 sentments. I therefore turn from these painful remi- 
 niscences and refer you to the day when Independ- 
 ence mature in age and loveliness, advanced with an- 
 gelic grace from the chamber in which she was born 
 into the same balcony ; and holding in her hand the 
 immortal scroll on which her name and character 
 and claims to her inheritance were inscribed — re- 
 ceived from the street filled with an impenetrable 
 phalanx, and windows glittering with a blaze of 
 beauty, the heartfelt homage and electrifying peals 
 of the men, women and children of the whole city. 
 The splendour of that glorious vision of my child- 
 hood seems to be now present to my view, and the 
 harmony of that universal concert to vibrate in my 
 ear. 
 
 Such, gentlemen, is the cursory and meagre chroni- 
 cle of the men and the occurrences which have given 
 celebrity to this building. And if it be true, that we 
 are now before the altar, whence the coals were taken 
 which have kindled the flame of liberty in two hemis- 
 pheres, you will realize with me the sentiment already 
 expressed, that the most interesting associations of 
 the eventful history of the age might rise in natural 
 trains and be indulged and presented on this occa- 
 sion without violence to propriety. 
 
 We, gentlemen, have now become for a short pe- 
 riod, occupants of this temple of Liberty. Hence- 
 forth, for many years, the City Government will 
 
14 
 
 probaljly be here administered. The duties of its 
 members are less arduous, painful and dignified than 
 those of the eminent persons who one graced these 
 seats and procured for us the privilege of admission 
 to them. Yet let not these duties be undervalued. 
 They are of sufficient weight and importance to ex- 
 cite a conscientious desire in good minds, to cul- 
 tivate a public spirit, and imitate with reverence 
 great examples. There is ample scope for disposi- 
 tions to serve our fellow citizens in the department 
 of the City Government. It is charged with con- 
 cerns affecting the daily comfort and prosperity of 
 sixty thousand persons, — a number exceeding that of 
 several of these United States at the time of their 
 admission into the Union. The results of their de- 
 liberations have an immediate bearing upon the mor- 
 als, health, education and purse of this community 
 and are generally of more interest to their feelings, 
 and welfare than the ordinary acts of State Legislation. 
 It is a community which any man may regard as a sub- 
 ject of just pride to represent — rivalled by none in order- 
 ly and moral habits, general intelligence, commercial 
 and mechanic skill, a spirit of national enterprise, 
 and above all a vigilance for the interest of posterity 
 manifested in the provision made for public educa- 
 tion. No state of society can be found more happy 
 and attractive than yours. Many of those who are 
 in its first ranks rose from humble beginnings and 
 hold out encouragement to others to follow their 
 steps. There is so far as I can judge, more real 
 equality and a more general acq.uaintance and inter- 
 course among the different vocations than is else- 
 
15 
 
 where to be found in a populous city. Those of the 
 middling class as respects wealth, the mechanics and 
 the working men are not only eligible but constantly 
 elected to all offices in state and city, in such pro- 
 portion as they (constituting the great majority) see 
 fit to assign. We enjoy the blessings of a healthy 
 climate, delightful position and ample resources for 
 prosperity in commerce, manufactures and the me- 
 chanic arts, all of which I am persuaded are at this 
 moment gradually reviving after some vicissitude 
 from time and chance which happen to all things. — 
 May w^e and those who will succeed us, appreciate 
 the responsibleness attached to our places, by the 
 merit of our predecessors, and though we cannot 
 serve our country to the same advantage, may we 
 love it with equal fidelity. And may the Guardian 
 Genius of our beloved city forever delight to dwell 
 in these renovated walls ! 
 
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