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 ORATION 
 
 DELIVERED BEFORE THE 
 
 it? fliiiell iii flitipii if 1,§! 
 
 ONE HUNDRED AND FOURTH ANNIVERSARY OF THE DECLARATION 
 OF AMERICAN INDEPENDENCE, 
 
 JULY 5, 1880 
 
 BY 
 
 ROBERT DICKSOJS^ SMITH, 
 
 § s t \\ : 
 
 PRINTED BY ORDER OF THE CITY COUNCIL, 
 
 MDCCCLXXX. 
 
•31 -f 
 
 \f 
 
 \ 
 
 PRESS or 
 *ROCKWELL&I 
 
CITY OF bosto:n^. 
 
 In Board of Aldermen, July 6, 1880. 
 
 Ordered, That the thanks of the City Council be tendered 
 to Robert Dickson Smith, Esq., for the very appropriate 
 and eloquent Oration upon the life and services of Samuel 
 Adams, which was delivered before the municipal authorities 
 of this city, July 5, 1880, upon the occasion of the dedication 
 of the statue of that Revolutionary Patriot in this city ; and 
 that a copy of said oration be requested for publication. 
 
 Passed. Sent down for concurrence. 
 
 HUGH O'BRIEN, 
 
 Chairman. 
 
 In Common Council, July 8, 1880. 
 Passed in concurrence. 
 
 HARVEY N. SHEPARD, 
 
 JPreside7it. 
 
 Approved July 12, 1880. 
 
 FREDERICK O. PRINCE, 
 
 Mayor. 
 
 A true copy. 
 
 Attest: S. F. McCLEARY, 
 
 City Clerk. 
 
Boston, July 14, 1880. 
 
 Gentlemen of the Cit[i Council: — 
 
 In accordance Avith the request contained in your order, 
 1 take pleasure in sending you herewith a copy of my address 
 delivered upon the 5tli of July, and remain 
 
 Your obliged and obedient servant, 
 
 liOBERT D. SMITH. 
 
ORATION. 
 
 oJ«4c 
 
 Mr. Mayor, Qentletnen of the CovmcU, and Fellow- 
 Citizens : — 
 Although the day we celebrate is a national one ; 
 although this anniversary commemorates the birth- 
 cry of a nation, weak and feeble then, — composed 
 of scattered farmers and sailors on " the shores of the 
 misty Atlantic ; " a nation, which, — as the genie in 
 the Eastern fable, rising before the astonished eyes 
 of the fisherman, from the vessel cast upon the 
 shore, — in a trice, has spread like a cloud over a 
 continent, wider than the whole civilized world beside ; 
 yet, as in the town of Boston, more than in any other 
 place, and in this, more than in any other colony, 
 were sown the seeds and are to be found the causes, 
 the habits of thought and principles of action, which 
 brought about the great result, — the American Revo- 
 lution ; and as Samuel Adams, a native and citizen all 
 his life of this town, more than any other man, kin- 
 dled and kept in a constant glow the fires of patriot- 
 ism, but also, more than any other, may be truly said 
 to have represented the principles and anticipated the 
 
6 OK ATI ON. 
 
 consequences of the American stru<»gle for indepen- 
 dence, — it lias been thonglit proper, at this time, to 
 call to mind some incidents of his life and times, 
 and that the principles of which he was the exponent 
 and personification should be the lofty subject of my 
 theme. 
 
 I thank you, Mr. Mayor, for your selection of a 
 subject when 3^ou invited me to speak to you on this 
 occasion. Your indication of your wishes will render 
 this selection not invidious; and my treatment will 
 not seem j^artial, or particular, by reason of a 
 choice from out a galaxy of heroes and statesmen, 
 among whom one star only difltereth from another 
 star in glory. 
 
 In that Pantheon of departed heroes, the old hall 
 of the Xational Capitol at Washington, to which each 
 State has been invited by Congress to contribute two 
 rejjresentatives of her history, Massachusetts has, 
 within a few years, placed two noble statues, — the 
 one is of John AVinthrop, as most worthily represent- 
 ing our early colonial period; the other of Samuel 
 Adams, the personification of the Revolution. It has 
 been said that your Legislature hesitated long be- 
 tween the latter and his more distinguished kinsman, 
 John Adams, the second President of the I'nited 
 States. 
 
 But the great goods of fortune which had attended 
 
JULY 5, .18 80. 7 
 
 the latter, the more national and public rewards which 
 had been his during his long life, so many and such 
 as seldom or never have fallen to the lot of another, 
 doubtless had their weight with the powers which 
 determined the selection. The Greek philosopher 
 said, " 'No man is to be pronounced happy before his 
 death ; " and he mentioned as the most fortunate per- 
 son whom he had known one who was the father of 
 two virtuous youths, both upon the same day victors 
 in the Olympic games. This father, when raised in 
 the arms of his sons in the moment of conofratula- 
 tion, died from excess of joy. 
 
 So it was with John Adams, who upon the 4th of 
 July, the fiftieth anniversary of the Declaration of 
 Independence, while his son was the President of the 
 United States, upon the same day with his fellow- 
 signer of the Declaration, Thomas Jefferson, expired, 
 in the full possession of everything that can make old 
 age desirable. 
 
 It has been said, " If the chariot and horses of fire 
 had been vouchsafed to him, he could scarcely have 
 had a more splendid translation, or departed in a 
 brighter blaze of glory." 
 
 But Samuel Adams lived and died poor, and post- 
 humous justice has at last come, in some measure, 
 to even up the moral equities, by a recognition which 
 he would indeed have valued. 
 
8 () H A T I O N . 
 
 Of the marl)le statue at Washington a l^ronze 
 reproduction by the same artist has been presented 
 to your city by the munificence of Mr. Jonathan 
 Phillips. 
 
 This noble gift is to be placed most fittingly 
 in Dock Square, among the streets which Adams 
 frequented, near the Green Dragon Tavern, where 
 he talked and taught, upon his right hand, old Faneuil 
 Hall, the cradle of liberty which he so often rocked, 
 and looking straight upon the heights of Charles- 
 town. Tt is a ty]iical statue. 
 
 Thy spirit, ludepemlence, let me shave, 
 
 Lord of the lion heai't and eagle eye ! 
 Thee let me follow with my bosom bare, 
 
 Nor heed the blast which howls along the sky. 
 
 Born in 1722, and dying at the age of over four- 
 score years (in 1803) , the latter half of his life ex- 
 tended over the period which most " tried men's souls." 
 And yet his story is singularly wanting in romantic 
 action or striking incident. With the exception of 
 one or two noble scenes, Ms is a history of writings, 
 of conferences, of resolutions and State papers. 
 
 The son of a Boston merchant, graduated at Har- 
 vard College, when he took his master's degree, in 
 1743, he proposed as his thesis the question, 
 "AVlu'thcr it Ik' lawful to resist the Supreme Magis- 
 
JULY5,188 0. 9 
 
 trate, if the Commonwealth camiot otherwise be 
 preserved." On this question he maintained the 
 aflSrmative. This is the text of the sermon of his 
 Hfe, and the motive of his subsequent pohtical career. 
 
 On leaving college he gave some attention to the 
 study of divinity, but soon abandoned that profes- 
 sion for mercantile pursuits, in which his father was 
 engaged. 
 
 It was not until he was forty-four years of age 
 that he was sent by his fellow-townsmen to represent 
 them in the Great and General Court of the 
 Province. 
 
 Up to that time his highest political office had 
 been the chairmanship of the town-meetings of the 
 toAvn of Boston, at which he usually presided, so that 
 the town-house came to be called his throne. 
 
 But during all this period he had interested him- 
 self so much in political discussion, in conversation 
 with the people in the rope-walk, the ship-yard, and 
 the Green Dragon tavern, and in writing in the 
 public prints, that he had come to be considered as 
 the most stanch and steady friend of the liberties of 
 the people, and the most skilful organizer of the 
 popular party in the province. 
 
 In those days, Boston, a peninsula, less than half 
 of its present size (so much of its territory has 
 been stolen from the sea), contained less than 
 
10 OK A T 1 U N . 
 
 sixteen thousand people, mostly dwelling* in one 
 cornel- thereof", — l:)etween Summer street and the 
 harbor. 
 
 Tliis handful of people were actively eng-aged in 
 trade and the fisheries. For two hundi-ed and fifty 
 years since, also on the Fourth of July (1631), within 
 the first year aftei* the foundation of your city, the 
 first vessel, Governor AVinthrop's bark, "Fortune of 
 the Bay," had been launched, and commerce had 
 so increased in a short hundred years, that during 
 the early manhood of Samuel Adams, more than 
 one vessel on the average entered and cleared 
 from tliis port each and every day of the year. 
 
 So tliat before the blighting legislation which ' 
 preceded the Revolution had crijDpled trade, 
 the harbor and wharves of the peninsula were 
 filled with the clamor of men, and the creaking of 
 cordage, — ^'^ clamor virorum stridorque rudentum,^'' — 
 and Boston was the principal and most important 
 town of I^orth America. 
 
 At the J^orth End, where were the wharves and 
 the ship-yards, there was a certain political organiza- 
 tion, made up in part of hardy shij^wrights, and, 
 therefore, called the Caulker's Club. 
 
 This Caulker's Club, of which Samuel Adams 
 was the leading spirit, has given, probably, to 
 the language of English-speaking nations the 
 
JULY 5, 18 80. 11 
 
 much-abused word ■' caucus ; " though composed of 
 a few mechanics and artisans in a remote American 
 village, then out of the world one may say, this 
 club has exercised a greater influence upon the 
 destinies of a nation than all the Jacobin clul3S of 
 France. 
 
 For, however important to the cause of American 
 liberty was the eloquence of Otis (that flame of 
 fire) , the logic of John Adams, or, later, the 
 courage of military leaders like Warren, Prescott, 
 or Pickering, before the vague aspirations of the 
 other colonists had taken form, Samuel Adams, 
 backed by this club, was preeminent in embodying, 
 uniting, and directing the will of his constituents, 
 and in collecting the scattered threads of oppo- 
 sition, which would otherwise have been factious, 
 and weaving them together into the strong cable 
 of constitutional liberty. 
 
 Therefore it is that he has been called l3y Jefferson 
 " The Palinurus; " by others, the " Father of the Rev- 
 olution." 
 
 He was made, says John Adams, " a wedge of 
 steel, to split the knot of lignum-vitae which tied 
 North America to England." 
 
 It also happened that in Boston, a few years before 
 his birth, was established the first American news- 
 paper, the " ^N^ews-letter," and at the time of his birth 
 
12 O Ti A r ION. 
 
 one other paper, the " Courant," was also piibhshed, in 
 the office of which the printer, Benjamin Frankhn, 
 was working as an apprentice. 
 
 Young Samuel Adams, first of Americans, recog- 
 nized the power of the press as a mighty engine for 
 moulding the popular thought, and, gifted with a keen 
 and polished pen, " every dip of which," Governor 
 Bernard said, " stung him like a horned snake," he 
 made the ncAVspapers the daily vehicle of his high 
 thoughts and noble aspirations. 
 
 This was before we came to bloAvs; this was 
 when people had time to read and to think. 
 
 It was when liberty, religious or political, was not 
 a matter of course, and when the danger of oppres- 
 sicm was a cloud arising out of the " black water," as 
 the Hindoos call the ocean, and coming across the 
 seas from the mother country Avith every Eastern 
 breeze. 
 
 Long before he was elected a representative of his 
 native town, his discussions in the newspaper, over 
 various signatures, of public questions announced 
 his favorite doctrines, which have now become the 
 watchwords of constitutional liberty, — such as that 
 government rests upon the equal rights of all men; 
 that the welfare and safety of the people are para- 
 mount to all other law, and that there exists in them 
 a right to change bad constitutions; that mag- 
 
JULY 5, 18 80. 13 
 
 istrates may be guilty, and often are guilty of treason 
 and rebellion; that the union of the several func- 
 tions of g-overnnient is dangerous to liberty ; and, as 
 to the application of his doctrines to the colony, that 
 her representation in Parliament was impossible; 
 that Parliament, or the Mug, or both, had no right 
 to abrogate the liberties, or legislate for the colonies. 
 
 The first denial of the right of Parliament to tax 
 the colonists contained in any official paper; the first 
 opposition to the Stamp Act; the first suggestion of a 
 union of the colonies, are in the instructions of the 
 town of Boston to its representatives, drafted in 
 1764 by Samuel Adams. 
 
 All this was before the struggle, and during the 
 mutterings of the storm. When the storm came, as 
 Webster said of his father, "Through the fire and 
 blood of seven years of Revolutionary war, he 
 shrank fron no toil, no danger, to serve his country." 
 
 It was said of another civilian of the Revolution, 
 Benjamin Franklin, in most happy phrase and with 
 a double meaning, "^^Erijyuit ccelo pulmen sceptrum 
 que tyranais; but when the thunder-bolt, which 
 Adams had forged and placed glowing in the 
 hands of liberty, was growing cold and dull during 
 the trials of the Revolution, he returned home, 
 again and again, to breathe upon it, from the fiery 
 furnace of his zeal, and as he moulded and pointed 
 
14 OK A T 1 < ) N . 
 
 it anew upon tlie iron anvil of bis will \hv spai'l^s 
 of patriotism flew upward to the heavens. 
 
 From the age of forty-four to seventy-seven, foi' 
 thirty j^ears, as Representative of I^oston in the 
 Great and General Court of the Province; and as 
 Clerk of that body, as Secretary of the Colony, 
 as delegate to the Continental Congi-ess, where he 
 signed the Declaration of Independence, and was 
 chairman of the Committee on ]S^aval Affairs, and 
 represented Massachusetts till 1781, soon after which 
 peace was declared; as member of the constitutional 
 convention of the Commonwealth, in which he framed 
 the Bill of Rights ; as Senator and President of the 
 Senate of this State; as Lieutenant-Governor, and 
 Governor from the death of Hancock, in 1794, — his 
 was a life of constant, untiring, and laborious public 
 service. 
 
 Unsuccessful in his private business, in which 
 his father's fortune was also lost, — engaged in 
 trade at a most disastrous period, — from the time 
 of his engaging in the public service he was 
 supported by the pittance accorded in those times 
 to public servants, and this Avas at times in arrears, 
 and paid, during a portion of the time, in a 
 terribly depreciated currency. 
 
 Living always in decent poverty, which was 
 su])])orted and relieved by the iiidiistrv and 
 
JULY5,1880. 15 
 
 economy of his wife, when he retired from pnb- 
 hc hfe, in 1797, he had no means of sujoport ; 
 and when he died, in 1803, it has been said that 
 he would have been carried to his last restins:- 
 place (in the Old Granary Burying Ground) at 
 the chai-ge of his friends, had not the death of 
 his only son given him a small support for his 
 declining years. 
 
 These last years were clouded by grief and 
 mental disease. He left no male descendant to 
 bear his name. At home he was a firm opponent 
 of all extravagance, dissipation, and sumptuary 
 expense, and an advocate and example of the 
 sternest republican simplicity in life and morals 
 as the surest guaranties of the perpetuation of 
 liberty. Indeed, he said he hoped to make Bos- 
 ton a "Christian Sparta." He caused the aboli- 
 tion of the stocks and of the whipping-posts, 
 as being derogatory to the dignity of freemen. 
 
 The cultivation of private and social virtue 
 and the education of the children of all citizens 
 by free schools may be said to have been his 
 hobbies. 
 
 Such was his own frugality that it was not 
 till after middle life that he had a single silver 
 spoon in his house. Wlien he was a delegate 
 to the Continental Congress he was actually pro- 
 
10 OK AT I ON. 
 
 vidc'd will) a fitting suit of clothes by the kindness 
 of certain friends in Boston, and, this being captured 
 by the British, he Avas obhged to procure another 
 in Pliiladelpliia, at the expense of the Common- 
 wealth. Such was his Roman firmness that, though 
 he had served during seven years, as it was said, 
 with "a halter about his neck," he opposed the 
 pardon of those convicted of treason during Shay's 
 rebellion, on the ground that one who rebelled 
 against a constitutional government, in which he had 
 an equal voice, was worthy of the severest pun- 
 ishment — death. 
 
 As early as 17G4 he had opposed the slave- 
 trade, and when a negro girl was offered as a 
 present to his wife, he declined to receive her 
 as a slave, saying that " Surry must be free on 
 crossing the threshold of his house." She after- 
 wards served his family faithfully thirty years. 
 
 Such is a short view of the life of the patriot 
 who organized the Revolution, who gave his life 
 to the cause fi-om a pure love of liberty and a 
 conscientious belief in the natural right of a 
 people to resist what is wrong in government and 
 oppressive to the many. Life to him was very 
 serious. It was a continued struggle with poverty, 
 a resistance to power and oppression, a watchful 
 l)attlc for freedom and self-government. 
 
JULY 5, 1880. 17 
 
 The scenes in which he hved are onr early 
 history, the steps taken by this province in the 
 new and nntried path of hberty ; and famihar 
 as they are let me recall to your recollection 
 some of those well-known incidents with which 
 my subject is connected ; and in so doing-, to 
 show briefly how far the notions entertained by 
 him have impressed themselves upon subsequent 
 times ; how far his sibylline prescience is fairly 
 to be considered as a guide. 
 
 The germs or seeds of the American Revolution 
 are to be found more immediately in the origin and 
 character of the first settlers of this land and colony. 
 Whatever may be said of their narrowness and 
 bigotry, they were 
 
 Good yeomen, 
 
 Whose limbs were made in England, 
 
 To show us here the mettle of their pasture. 
 
 They were men of logic and courage, willing to 
 suffer for opinion's sake, ready to die for that which 
 they thought right. 
 
 This same spirit which animated the early colonists, 
 the spirit of liberty and resistance to arbitrary power, 
 was left, no doubt, in England. 
 
 Indeed, it had a temporary success in the resistance 
 to Charles Stewart, culminating in his trial and exe- 
 cution; and after the restoration of Charles II. in 
 
18 " O ]{ A T I O N . 
 
 the more peaceable and permanent revolntion of 1688, 
 Avhicli secured tlie rule of the people of England by 
 and throngli their connnons. 
 
 The i)arnllel development of the same character- 
 istics among kindred ]:)eoples, under difterent cir- 
 cumstances, must always be a matter of interest to 
 the student of history. 
 
 The times in which a man lives, the people among 
 whom he is bred, insensibly to him form his character 
 and determine his actions. 
 
 It is a mistake to suppose that any great popular 
 movement depends upon the will or genius of a single 
 person; much as one man may guide and direct the 
 movements of a people, he is still a child of 
 destiny. 
 
 So Samuel Adams, the last of the Puritans, as he 
 has been called, I think falsely, was the legitimate 
 result of the people, the coimtry, and the times, and 
 of the century of colonial life preceding his birth. 
 Men of his chai-acter, though less in degree and force, 
 though not combining his many qualities of head and 
 heart, fitting him to lead men, there were many among 
 the Puritan fathers. Each ship brought some of them 
 to the l)leak or rugged sliores of either cape which 
 guards our bay. 
 
 Indeed, it has been said that Cromwell liimself was 
 stopped at Bristol on his way to America. 
 
JULY 5, 18 80. 19 
 
 The descendants of these Puritans, Magnariimi 
 Remi Nepotes, have peopled a great belt of the con- 
 tinent with men of ruling* minds. Whenever a man 
 rises to eminence in the northern range of States, it is 
 found that the bones of his ancestors are resting in 
 the old graveyards of the Commonwealth, which 
 should be the Mecca of the now imperial West. The 
 ancestors of Generals Grant and Sherman lie with 
 the ancestors of Adams and Franklin. The ancestors 
 of these men may claim to belong to a commanding 
 race ; when in power, indeed, capable of tyranny, but 
 as subjects, no people more capable of free thought 
 and action or of stubborn resistance to oppression. 
 
 To these emigrants to the province, enterprising 
 and conscientious, Puritans, Independents, Sectaries, 
 disposed to question for themselves and without 
 much reverence for authority, the kings of the 
 Stewart line did not scruple to grant territories in 
 North America, extending from the Atlantic to the 
 " Western Seas," to which these kings had only the 
 right of discovery. 
 
 Connected with the general passion for colonization, 
 which had taken jDossession of all European nations, 
 there was in the minds of English sovereigns a feeling 
 that active, uneasy, and factious subjects might well 
 spend their energies in subduing the wilderness of the 
 IS'ew World. 
 
20 O R A T I O X . 
 
 So little was the well-being of the colonists an 
 object of fostering care, that all sorts of criminals 
 were transported to some of the more flourishing 
 plantations and sold to the planters for temporary 
 periods of servitude, and all the Colonial Acts of 
 Massachusetts abolishing the slave-trade w^ere vetoed 
 by the king or royal governors. 
 
 The magnitude of the colonial system was neither 
 anticipated nor understood at the time of granting 
 the early charters, and the Colonial Charter of 
 Massachusetts Bay, as well as the Province Charter, 
 contained certain very important provisions, upon 
 which the conservative, as well as the independent, 
 subject could found a claim to the right of self- 
 government. 
 
 The material provisions of these charters granted 
 the colonists power — I quote from the first charter — 
 " to make laws and ordinances for the good and w^el- 
 fare of said company, and for the government of said 
 lands and plantations, and the people inhabiting and 
 to inhabit the same, as to them, from time to time, 
 shall be thought meet — so as such laws and ordi- 
 nances be not contrar}^ to the state of this own realm 
 of England." [Col. Ch. 1628, p. 9.] 
 
 " That they shall live under our allegiance." Ih. 
 
 11. 
 
 "That all our subjects who sliall go to and inliabit 
 
J U L Y 5 , 1 8 8 . 21 
 
 (said plantations, etc.) shall have and enjoy all 
 liberties and immunities of free and natural-born sub- 
 jects, within any of the dominions of us, our heirs 
 and successors, as if they were born in England." Ih. 
 
 Upon these clauses hang all the law and the proph- 
 ets, so far as the legal or constitutional aspect of 
 the controversy went between the sovereign and the 
 colonists of Massachusetts Bay. 
 
 These colonists were left much to themselves for a 
 hundred years, during the troubles of Charles with 
 the parliaments, and during the severe rule of Crom- 
 well, with whom they were disposed to sympathize ; 
 for it is true, I believe, that as late as 1660, the 
 Kegicides, Goffe and Whalley, were publicly received 
 and entertained in Boston. It was not till fourteen 
 months after the restoration of Charles II. that he 
 was proclaimed king, in Boston. And it was actually 
 thirty days before the news of the Revolution of 1688 
 reached Boston, that the people of the town had risen 
 and driven out the royal governor. 
 
 The colonists had grown strong in liberty and in 
 self-reliance, and when they were thought ripe for 
 taxation they were found also ready to maintain their 
 rights under their charters, and to contend that it was 
 the birthright of Englishmen to be taxed only by their 
 own consent; and as by their situation and circum- 
 stances the colonists were not and could not be repre- 
 
22 " O H A T I < ) X . 
 
 sentcd in PaiTunnent, they could not be taxed by tluit 
 body, but onl}^ by their own representatives in the 
 General Court, whose laws Avere subject only to the 
 A^eto of the sovereign, to Avhom alone they owed 
 alle^Mance. 
 
 This position, in conflict Avith the supreme power of 
 Parliament, Avhich claimed the right to impose taxes, 
 gaA^e great umbrage to the partisans of the ministry. 
 
 ^ay, some of the bolder and freer of the colonists 
 were ready to go further, and to rest their demands 
 upon the natural right of men; and even to take the 
 ground that governments rested upon the consent of 
 the governed, and were really intended for the benefit 
 of the Avhole people, — a doctrine Avhich has since 
 obtained some currency, but then Avas not at all 
 palatable to those Avho governed, and especially to 
 those Avho maintained the divine rights of kings. 
 
 Among the lattei' class Avas Samuel Adams, Avho 
 Avas a friend, as Avell as a leader, of the people, 
 and by nature extremely jealous and Avatchful of 
 assumed or centralized powxr. 
 
 Tramed in the school of habitual 0{)position, 
 and ahvays resting upon his arms before the 
 Avatch-fire of liberty, the fibre of his mind Avas of 
 that toughness, and his nature so undaunted and 
 incorruptible, that no Avant of success for a 
 moment damped his courage. 
 
JULY5,1880. 23 
 
 He early saw the end that must come, — that 
 the colonists must fight at last for their liberties. 
 
 To that test he was willing to submit the cause, 
 and his prescience foretold the result. 
 
 As soon as he was embarked in the legislative 
 life, and his character was known in England, 
 and became a source of annoyance to the ministry, 
 and it was also known that he was very poor, 
 it was proj^osed, as usual in those days and with 
 the ministry of George III., when the clamorous 
 grew troublesome, to silence him with some office 
 in the gift of government. 
 
 Gov. Hutchinson, whom he was op^^osing, in 
 answer to some friend who asked why he was 
 not so silenced, replied, " Such is the obstinacy 
 and inflexible disposition of the man that he never 
 can be conciliated by any office or gift whatever." 
 
 Some years later, when he had been warned 
 on the night of the 18th of April, 1775, the eve 
 of Lexington and Concord, and on the morning 
 of the 19th was escaping from Lexington at 
 dawn, through the fields, in company with a friend, 
 'he said, " This is a glorious day." 
 
 His friend, supposing he alluded to the weather, 
 said, " It is very pleasant, indeed." 
 
 " I mean," said Adams, " this is a glorious day 
 for America." 
 
24 ORATION. 
 
 The story is too long* to tell of acts of Samuel 
 Adams which go to make up the history of the 
 Revolution, but it seems to me that I may be 
 pardoned if I recall to you at this time the oft- 
 told tale of the Boston Massacre, and of the 
 events immediately preceding, and particularly 
 because that 5th of March, 1770, was for twelve 
 years celebrated by our city as its anniversary 
 of independence, and such men as Joseph Warren, 
 John Hancock, and John Lowell, were the orators 
 of that anniversary. It was not until 1783 that 
 the celebration was merged in that of the 4th of 
 July, of which it was the precursor. In 1783 
 Samuel Adams was one of the committee to select 
 the orator for the first celebration of this day. 
 
 One year, then, after the reign of George III. 
 began, a conspiracy was set on foot to try the ques- 
 tion of strength with the colonies; which question the 
 king declared he would never relinquish but with his 
 crown and life ; and Boston was selected by an obsti- 
 nate monarch as the field for the grand debate. 
 
 This we now know from the lips of his own 
 accomplices, his ministers. 
 
 In 1761 application was made to the courts 
 of the i)rovince in aid of the collectors of custom 
 for the celebrated writs of assistance. The elo- 
 quence of Otis in opposition to the application. 
 
JULY 5, 18 80. 25 
 
 and the excitement manifested by the colonists at 
 this invasion of their Hberties, caused the court 
 presided over by Hutchinson, after several adjourn- 
 ments, to shrink from the responsibility of grant- 
 ing such writs, and to refrain from giving judgment. 
 Grenville then devised the Stamp Act, and the 
 appointment of Oliver as a distributor of stamps 
 again aroused the watchfulness of the colonists. 
 
 The stamp-office near the custom-house was 
 demolished by a mob, and Oliver's house at- 
 tacked and damaged. Such violence was ex- 
 tremely distasteful to Samuel Adams, who declared 
 when the mob afterwards attacked Hutchinson's 
 house, that he " would have rather lost his right 
 hand." 
 
 Then it was determined to overawe Boston by a 
 standing army, and the Fourteenth and Twenty-ninth 
 Regiments of the king's troops were quartered in 
 the town. The forces of the king had before always 
 been quartered at the Castle William, as Governor's 
 Island or Fort Independence was called ; and, as may 
 be imagined, the adverse occupation of the town by 
 regulars was productive of vexations endless and 
 frequent collisions. 
 
 In these conflicts the "town-born turned out," as 
 the phrase was, and generally had the advantage. 
 The soldiers burned for vengeance ; and before the 
 
26 ORATION. 
 
 5th of March, 1770, when Lord ISTorth, in liis ])]aee 
 in Parliament, was speaking of the colonies, and of 
 the determination of the king to subdue them by 
 force, and predicting his success, and declaring that 
 America should lie prostrate at his feet, — before that 
 very evening it was whispered by the soldiers that 
 there would be blood. Upon the evening of the 5th 
 of March, the moon was shining upon the newly fallen 
 snow in the streets of Boston, in which many persons 
 Avere moving to and fro, when several boys and citizens, 
 perhaps not of the better sort, assailed with words a 
 sentinel before the custom-house in King, now State, 
 street. He finally called to his aid the guard, six in 
 number, with whom came Capt. Preston, the ofiicer 
 of the day, and finally when from words came blows, 
 and sticks, and stones, such was the irritation of the 
 soldiers that they, either with or Avitliout command of 
 their ofiicer, discharged their pieces upon the crowd; 
 each musket was loaded with two balls. To show 
 the malice of their aim, it is said each bullet is ac- 
 counted for, and is shown to have infiicted a wound 
 upon some of the bystanders; three citizens were 
 mortally injured and eight wounded, no one of whom 
 had taken any part in the actual assault. The ])ells 
 of the churches were rung; every man in the town 
 turned out. " The drums beat at dead of night." 
 I^he king's troops were under arms; 1'hey were 
 
JULY 5, 18 80. 27 
 
 drawn up in the narrow part of State street, adjoin- 
 ing' the Old State House, and stood there confront- 
 ing the angry populace, swaying to and fro in the 
 unUghted streets. 
 
 Gaunt murder stalked among the people. 
 
 At last the soldiers were ordered, at the request of 
 the Governor from the balcony, to retire to their bar- 
 racks, and, upon Hutchinson's promise that the law 
 should take its course, the peoj^le wei'e induced to re- 
 tire to their homes, to meet upon the morrow in the 
 town-house. 
 
 The meeting was adjourned, on account of numbers, 
 to the Old South Church. John Adams says that ten 
 thousand to twelve thousand persons were estimated to 
 be collected in the venerable building. This is probably 
 an exaggeration, when we consider that the town 
 could not have contained more than a quarter of that 
 number of male citizens. Jonathan Williams Avas 
 chosen moderator. A remonstrance to the Governor 
 was ordained, and a demand that the regular troops 
 be i-emoved from the town. Always willing that 
 others should have offices of emoluments and honor, 
 Sam Adams, when danger threatened, was at the 
 front. He was appointed chairman of the committee 
 to present this remonstrance, and to announce that 
 the citizens could no longei* tolerate the presence of 
 troops within the town. This resolution he, at the 
 
28 OK ATI ON. 
 
 head of bis committee, bore tbe next day to Gover- 
 nor Ilnteliinson. 
 
 It was not in Adams' nature to fear any man, much 
 less liis adversary, Hutchinson, who had spoken of 
 him as the " Chief Incendiary." 
 
 He was fully roused, though very calm; breathing 
 tlie spirit of the Koman Cassius, — 
 
 but for my single self, 
 
 I h;i(l as lief not be as live to be 
 
 In awe of such a tliinj^ as I myself — 
 
 he appeared before the Council. 
 
 This picture lias been described l)y a master 
 hand. It is the dramatic scene of Samuel Adams' 
 life. 
 
 In the Council Chamber, in the old State 
 House, then adorned by two noble portraits of 
 Kings Charles II. and James H., in splendid 
 golden frames, — the gift of Governor Bernard, 
 pictures of which no painter in England at that 
 day was capable, — sat Lieutenant-Governor Hutch- 
 inson, with eight and twenty councillors, clothed 
 in scarlet robes, snowy wigs, and gold-laced 
 hats. 
 
 The Governor was supported by Lieutenant-CoU)nel 
 Dalrymple, taking precedence of all the Councillors 
 as Commander-in-Chief of His Majesty's forces, 
 
JULY 5, 1880. 29 
 
 and seated by the right hand of the Chief 
 Magistrate. 
 
 Before them appeared Samuel Adams, dressed 
 probably also in a cloak of red broadcloth, as 
 he is painted in Faneuil Hall, a cocked hat, and a 
 tie wig, and without a sword; and for himself a man 
 of middle size, with a clear blue eye, and of mild iDut 
 grave expression, like one who was most earnest, and 
 almost stern, but with whom little children loved to 
 talk. His voice was sweet and melodious, trained 
 in the practice of singing sacred music, — his only 
 recreation; and with moderate tones, though the 
 snow beneath the windows was stained with the blood 
 of his fellow-towns-people, he spoke of the state 
 of the town and of the country, the dangerous, 
 ruinous, and fatal effects of standing armies in 
 populous cities in times of peace, and of the deter- 
 mination of his fellow-citizens that the troops 
 must be removed. His hand and head, then 
 slightly palsied, " a tremor never communicated to 
 his soul," gave additional emphasis to his weighty 
 words. Hutchinson, at the head of his hesitating 
 council, at first replied, " that he had no authority 
 over the king's troops; that they had their 
 separate commander, separate orders and instruc- 
 tions, and that he had no right to interfere." 
 This was a pretence; but Hutchinson had before 
 
oO • OKATION. 
 
 him a master of debate, with whom no ialhiey in 
 argument, oi* misquotation of authority, eouhl 
 eseape. Adams at once appealed to tlie cliarter 
 of tlu' ])rovince, which he said made the Gov- 
 ernor, and in his absence the Lieutenant-Governor, 
 commander of all the forces within its borders. 
 There were at that time immense and excited 
 assemblies of the people, from day to day, Avhom 
 nothing but the influence and most solemn 
 promises of Adams and others, that the soldiers 
 should be withdrawn, could restrain; and the whole 
 militia of the city, in sympathy with the people, 
 was in requisition to keep the peace betw^een the 
 citizens and the soldiery. In this delicate crisis 
 Samuel Adams was reasoning calmly wath the 
 Governor and Commander and Council n])()n 
 chartered rights, and dangers of standing armies. 
 The king's people wxi'e driven by his arguments 
 from their jiositions. The Governor and the 
 Council were cowed before him. AYlien the 
 whispering of consultation had ceased Hutchinson 
 broke silence, and said he had consulted with 
 Colonel Dalrymple, and had been authorized to 
 say that he might order one regiment down to 
 the castle, if that would satisfy the people. 
 " With a self-recollection, a self-command, a self- 
 possession, and a presence of mind, that were 
 
JULY r>, 1880. 31 
 
 admired by every man present,"" says John Adams, 
 Samuel Adams arose, with an air of dignity and 
 majesty stretched forth his arm, with harmonious 
 voice and decisive tone said: "If the Lieutenant- 
 Governor, or Colonel Dalrymple, or l3oth together, 
 have the power to remove one regiment, they have 
 the power to remove two. N^othing short of the 
 total evacuation of this town by all the regular 
 troops will satisfy the public mind, or preserve 
 the peace of this province. If you refuse, it is 
 at your peril. ]N^ight is approaching; an imme- 
 diate answer is expected. Both regiments or none ! " 
 These few simple words thrilled through the heart 
 of every freeman present. It is difficult now to 
 read them without emotion. They closed that 
 debate for liberty. " It was then," said Adams 
 afterwards of Hutchinson, "if fancy deceived me 
 not, that I observed his knees to tremble. I 
 thought I saw his face grow pale, and I enjoyed 
 the sight." Samuel Adams stood with folded 
 arms. It is this moment which the artist has 
 seized for the posture of the noble statue, the 
 gift of Mr. Phillips to your city. It is not 
 
 The stone which breathes and struggles, 
 The brass which seems to speak ; 
 
 but the moment of that pause, so awful to the 
 
82 Okation. 
 
 minister of a tyrant, clamoring ])y its silence for 
 a rei)ly, and knowing- that only one answer can be 
 retnrned. Qtium tacet clamat ! 
 
 After an awkward i)an8e it was agreed that both 
 regiments should be withdrawn. On their way to 
 the castle, through the crowded streets they were 
 marched to the wharf, attended by the patriot Moli- 
 neux, to protect them from the indignation of the 
 fellow-citizens of the townsmen who were lying dead. 
 Lord j^orth, with his characteristic humor, always af- 
 terwards called these troops " Sam Adams' regiments." 
 
 I need not tell you how at the trial of Capt. Pres- 
 ton and his soldiers for murder, which followed, John 
 Adams and Josiah Quincy, leading patriots, by Sam- 
 uel Adams' influence, were employed for their defence, 
 that nothing might be needed for a fair trial ; how, by 
 their skilful efforts and an upright jury, six of the 
 prisoners were wholly acquitted for want of proof, 
 and the other two escaped death by pleading benefit 
 of clergy. I need not mention to you how again he 
 confronted danger, when at the head of a committee 
 of the Legislature he ])()re the articles of impeachment 
 against Oliver to the Council; how he and John 
 Hancock were alone excepted from Gen. Gage's 
 proclamation of i)ai-d()n in 1775, " their offences being 
 of too flagitious a nature to admit of any other con- 
 sideration than that of condign punishment;" how. 
 
JULY 5, 18 80. 33 
 
 when the ancient government of Massachusetts was 
 abrogated by Great Britain by the repeal of our pro- 
 vincial charter, the formation of the voluntary govern- 
 ment was in j)^i't the work of Samuel Adams, which 
 Burke says is " among the marvels of history ; " how, 
 by his elforts with others during the war, Massachu- 
 setts alone gave to the cause one-third of all the men 
 and means furnished by the thirteen colonies, in 
 recognition of which one of the two cannon in the 
 State-house, presented by Congress to this Common- 
 wealth, — all that remained of the four field-pieces 
 constituting the entire Federal artillery at the begin- 
 ning of the war, — is named " The Adams, ^"^ the other 
 being " The Hancock ; " and how, finally, he insisted 
 upon no peace without independence, and finally, 
 when the treaty of peace was negotiating, the power 
 of Adams was exerted in its accustomed manner to 
 save and protect the fisheries, " that nursery of sea- 
 men," as he called them; and how, without the fullest 
 guaranty for their safety, his voice and that of Massa- 
 chusetts was still for war. 
 
 But at last the holy cause triumphed, and a treaty 
 of peace was made with Great Britain, in which the 
 independence of the thirteen colonies is acknowledged, 
 and they are designated in the treaty " The United 
 States of America." 
 
 During all the long struggle there had been no 
 
34 ORATION. 
 
 destruction of civil government, no resolution of 
 society into its elements, no committee of safety, no 
 reign of terror, no rule of directory or the commune, 
 no cessation of the steady rule of law and order. 
 As Lord Dunmore said of Yirginia, " The voluntary 
 government had been obeyed infinitely better than the 
 ancient in its most fortunate periods." 
 
 Before peace was actually declared it became 
 proper for the people of this Commonwealth to frame 
 a new constitution for their better government more 
 in accordance with the principles Avhich had been so 
 fully vindicated, 
 
 A constitutional convention was convened in 
 1779, and we are now living under the substan- 
 tial principles of organic law by it established. 
 In this convention it is probable no one member 
 had so much influence as Samuel Adams. To 
 his hand and brain we owe its more important 
 provisions. We have seen him as a constitutional 
 revolutionist, of a different, type from other revo- 
 lutionists. We now see him as a constructor, as 
 one of the devisors of the charter wdiich is to 
 protect us from ourselves and to enal)le us to 
 transmit our lil)ert3^ untarnished to our children. 
 
 And I may say, in this place, that so imbued 
 was Samuel Adams with the duty of pi'otecting 
 the rights of minorities, and the free expression 
 
JULY 5, 18 80. 35 
 
 of dissent, that when he was presiding- and there 
 was one dissentient voice from the unanimous 
 sentiment of the town-meeting-, and that voice was 
 drowned by tlie tumultuous applause and clamoi-, he 
 arrested proceedings until this dissent was recorded 
 in due form. Adams returned from Philadelphia to 
 attend to this new frame of government, and as the 
 old State-house, with winding stair and antique 
 gable, had become too small to accommodate the 
 growing needs of the people, and as Samuel Adams 
 afterwards laid the corner-stone of the present capitol 
 of this Commonwealth, whereon arose, to crown the 
 lofty heights of your city, the fair and symmetrical 
 edifice which lifts its shining dome to the blue 
 heavens and looks across the narrow sea on our 
 Marathon at Bunker's Hill, a beacon to the sea- 
 tossed mariner who is wafted to our shores, com- 
 manding within its horizon the busy marts and happy 
 homes of half a million prosperous people, — so, in 
 this constitutional convention, he drafted the Bill of 
 Rights, that corner-stone on which rest the very 
 fabric of our State, and the preservation of our 
 liberties for all time. 
 
 Senator Hoar, in his remarks upon the presen- 
 tation of the memorial statues at Washington, — 
 to whom I wish to acknowledge my indebtedness, 
 — said, " Samuel Adams was, I think, the greatest 
 
36 ORATION. 
 
 of our American statesmen; <^reatcst, if we judge 
 him by the soundness and sureness of his opinions 
 on tlic great questions of his time and of all 
 time; greatest in the strength of original argu- 
 ment by which he persuaded the people to its good." 
 
 Most of his convictions have come to be house- 
 hold words of free governments, and received by 
 all parties as political axioms. 
 
 Let us consider, then, what is the lesson of this 
 story? What great and still present danger to 
 our State did Samuel Adams foresee, and guard 
 against? It was the unnecessary centralization, 
 or long continuance of power in the hands of 
 any ruler. Eternal vigilance had been the price 
 of liberty; and his theory was to permit, nay, 
 compel, men to govern themselves as immediately 
 as possible, and especially in their domestic con- 
 cerns. He absolutely trusted the people in the 
 government of their own aifairs when allowed 
 to consider the reasons addressed to them. He 
 believed in the education of the masses in the 
 art of self-government. He had been brought up 
 in the town-meeting, — our miniature of a true 
 and pure democracy. He saw and knew how 
 well the town affairs are administered by men not 
 of eminent abilities, but of sound common-sense, 
 clothed only with such powers as are absolutely 
 
JULY 5, 18 80. 37 
 
 necessary to perform the tasks of government 
 entrusted to their care, and acting constantly 
 nnder the eyes of their constituents, and constantly 
 responsible to them by frequent elections. 
 
 Indeed, it was wittily said of him by one of 
 his friends, that if America could be governed 
 by Massachusetts, Massachusetts by Boston, and 
 Boston by a town-meeting in which he presided, 
 he would be satisfied, and it would not be in- 
 tentionally ill-governed either. 
 
 And so of the government of the Common- 
 wealth, his belief was that the people could be 
 absolutely trusted, and while elections should be 
 annual, no great abuse could long exist, provided 
 the people of the State were intelhgent, vh'tuous, 
 honest, and watchful of the doings of their legis- 
 lators. And of course the permanent well-being 
 of every free State must in the long run rest 
 upon those qualities in the body of her citizens. 
 
 Is not this in accordance with the dictates of 
 reason, that power should be delegated only to 
 the extent which the object to be effected de- 
 mands? Is not the only basis of a republic the 
 general intelligence and honesty of the people? 
 
 As Samuel Adams had an important part in 
 drafting the Articles of Confederation which the 
 instructions in 1761: of the town of Boston to its 
 
38 ' > TR -^ T I O N . 
 
 Kepresentatives had recommended, so he was always 
 sensible of the absolute necessity of giving to 
 Congress the exclusive management of foreign, 
 financial, and niilitar}'^ affairs. 
 
 80 it was that, when the constitution of the 
 United States was offered for the acceptance of 
 the sovereign State of Massachusetts, Samuel 
 Adams, after much scrutiny, favored its accept- 
 ance, with the addition of amendments which were 
 adopted, which were his work, and which, when 
 mentioned, will at once be seen to be the very 
 bulwarks of constitutional liberty. 
 
 The chief provisions are absolute freedom for 
 religion; the right of the citizens to keep and bear 
 arms ; compensation for private property taken 
 for public uses ; trial by jury according to com- 
 mon law; and, most important of all, that powers 
 not delegated to the United States, nor pro- 
 hibited by the Constitution to the States, are 
 reserved to the States respectively or to the 
 people. 
 
 He also advanced the doctrine that the Federal 
 Government should never interfere in the quarrels 
 of other nations, and that the debates of Con- 
 gress should be open, and not secret. 
 
 His belief was that the people of each State should 
 govern themselves through their State governments, 
 
JULY 5, 18 80. 39 
 
 to as great an extent as possible. His fear was of 
 the encroachments of the General Government. 
 
 How perfectly the purposes of government are 
 reached by our State constitutions, with what 
 stability they have survived internal discord and 
 foreign invasion, I think you all know. We per- 
 haps can judge of the success of the experiment 
 best by jjersonal experience, which is likely to 
 expose any and all defects. 
 
 Let us look at Massachusetts to-day, — and it 
 seems to me that the experiment here has been 
 going on since the time of Governor Winthrop, 
 and does not date merely from the Revolution, — 
 I venture to say that never in the whole history 
 of the world, from the building of Babel to the 
 present time, have there been seen a million 
 and a half of peoi3le living together in such 
 material prosperity, — so well fed, so well clothed, 
 so well housed. May we not add, so surrounded 
 by the means of education for themselves and 
 their children; with such opportunities for the 
 free exercise of their religion; with such security 
 to life, liberty, to property, and the pursuit of 
 happiness. And as to the administration of the 
 law, has there been a just complaint for years, 
 that in this Commonwealth all men and their rights 
 in property are not equal before the courts? 
 
40 OIJATTON. 
 
 Notwithstanding the bni'dens of taxation, and the 
 tentative character of our legislation, I think it is a 
 subject of congratulation tlint there is absolutely 
 no class legislation, no legislation avowedly or 
 really intended to diminish the liberty or take away 
 the rights of any man. All men who have served 
 in the Legislature know that party is almost un- 
 heard of in its deliberations ; that as a body it is 
 honest-minded, absolutely free from bribery, and 
 that it is amenable to reason and common-sense. 
 
 The frequent election of its members prevents the 
 office from being much sought for, as one of power 
 or ambition. This also prevents its action ever being 
 directed to improper restraint upon liberty or the 
 pursuit of happiness. If a man does not vote 
 properly, and his constituents can no longer trust his 
 common-sense, he is easily removed. 
 
 This is not so with our federal government. There 
 is another state of things almost from the nature of 
 the case. It is more distant; it is more complex. Its 
 action rests upon the concurrent consent of States, and 
 the citizens of States, widely differing in climate, in 
 laws, in manners, in habits, and modes of thought. 
 
 It cannot be readily reached ; its mistakes cannot 
 be readily remedied. 
 
 The presidential chair has been the object of the 
 hiofhest ambition of the most worthv and of the 
 
JULY 5, IS SO. 41 
 
 most wicked men, — of a AYashington and of a 
 Burr. 
 
 The first term of ofiiee is often spent in canvass- 
 ing for renomination ; the second, in naming a suc- 
 cessor ; and these labors are so shared by the poUtical 
 aspirants in the Senate and House as materially to 
 interfere with the business of the country. 
 
 And, although the few great beneficial and neces- 
 sary powers confided by the Constitution to the 
 General Government cannot be administered by the 
 States, and must be delegated to the United States, — 
 such as our relations with the foreign powers, and 
 the relations of the sovereign States between 
 themselves, the less that government is allowed to 
 meddle with the domestic affairs of the States, with 
 transportation by carriers, the selection of juries, 
 the 2>ublic schools, state tribunals, elections in which 
 State ofiicers are chosen, the better for us. The 
 distinguished Senator from Massachusetts, the author 
 of the question of his lecture, "Are we a nation?" 
 said of Alabama, "If they will not have free schools 
 we will compel them." It must be remembered that 
 if the citizens of other States in Congress may 
 impose schools upon Alabama, they may abolish them 
 in Massachusetts. 
 
 The central government is not so competent to 
 do the work which we need to have done. It is 
 
42 ORATION. 
 
 more likely to be the prey to abuse and coiTuption; 
 and those who are dazzled by tlie image of imperial 
 ])()Aver, who listen to the cries of sciolists for a 
 strong" central government, or the advice of doc- 
 trinaires who desire unification and a standing army, 
 — for what purpose they do not tell ns, — may be con- 
 tented with the forms of election which placed upon a 
 throne, of what Avas once a Republic, a line of Roman 
 Emperors, a Xero or a Heliogabalus : with a ple- 
 biscite, by which the old departments of France, 
 swallowed up in the centralizing vortex of Paris, 
 were content to sanction a coup d?eiat of a prince 
 President, or record the wishes of a most corrupt 
 despotism. 
 
 We can com})are, if we please, in mere military 
 efficiency, the rising of the States long used to peace 
 to put down the great rebellion by their militia, with 
 the official corruption in every department of a 
 strong government which had sa])ped the life of 
 France, and led to the overwhelming misfortune at 
 Sedan. 
 
 Even in the case of a free, representative, but cen- 
 tralized government, is it not natural that Ireland 
 should cry for home rule, where mere absenteeism 
 and a mistake in the law regulating the descent of 
 real property, and the general evils of foreign conti-ol 
 have led to such results? 
 
JULY n, IS so. 43 
 
 But it will be long, I hope, before the people of 
 Massachusetts will be persuaded to yield a present 
 certain good for an uncertain and doubtful advantage;, 
 all the less that the central government has, in those 
 things given it to do by the Constitution, had its ca- 
 pacity tried by foi'eign war and internal discord. It 
 has sailed securely through the most threatening 
 dangers ; it has conducted great maritime wars, and 
 overrun great territories. It has subdued a great 
 i-ebellion: within its sphere it needs nothing added 
 to its strength. 
 
 Let us, then, remember that we are safe while all 
 powers not delegated to the United States are pre- 
 served intact in the custody and keeping of the peo- 
 ple of the several States. 
 
 In the words of Henry Cla^^, '' Our Government is 
 not to be strengthened or our Union preserved by in- 
 vasions of the rights and powers of the several States. 
 In thus attempting to make our Government strong 
 we make it w^eak. Its true strength consists in leav- 
 ing individuals and States as much as possible to 
 themselves ; in making itself felt, not by its power, 
 but by its beneficence; not by its control, but in its 
 protection; not in binding the States more closely to 
 the centre, but leaving each to move unobstructed in 
 its particular orbit." 
 
 Upon our pi'eserving the wise scheme devised by 
 
44 O K A T 1 () N . 
 
 our ratliers, depends the perpetuity of liberty for our 
 children. 
 
 " I have an ambition," said Lord Chatham. " It is 
 the ambition of delivering to my posterity those rights 
 of freedom which T have inherited from my ancestors." 
 
 T do not know that I can more approj^riately con- 
 clude this address than by quoting the w^ords of 
 Samuel Adams, at his inauguration as Lieutenant- 
 Governor, when about to take the customary oath to 
 support and maintain the Constitution. 
 
 '' 1 shall presently," he said, " be called upon by 
 you, sir, as it is enjoined by the Constitution, to make 
 a declaration upon oath, and shall do it with cheerful- 
 ness, because the injunction accords with my oAvn 
 judgment and conscience, that the Commonwealth of 
 Massachusetts is and of right ought to he a free, 
 sovereign, and independent State. I shall also be 
 called upon to make another declaration witli the 
 same solemnity to support the Constitution of the 
 United States. 
 
 " I see the consistency of this, for it cannot have 
 been intended but that these constitutions should 
 mutually aid and support each other. 
 
 " It is also my humble opinion that while the Com- 
 monwealth maintains her oavu just authority, weight, 
 and dignity, slio will be among the firmest pillars of 
 tlie Federal I iiioii. 
 
JULY 5, 18 80. 45 
 
 " May the Constitution of the Federal Government 
 and those of the several States in the Union be 
 guided by the unerring finger of Heaven. 
 
 " Each of them, and all of them united, will then, 
 if the people are wise, be as prosperous as the 
 msdom of human institutions and the circumstances 
 of human society will admit." 
 
APPENDIX. 
 
THE STATUE 
 
 SAMUEL ADAMS. 
 
 oV»^c 
 
 At the mooting of tlie Board of Aldermen hold on the 
 23d of June, 1879, Alderman Stebbins offered the following 
 order : — 
 
 Ordered, That the chairman and tAvo members of this Board 
 consider the expediency of erecting statues of Samuel Adams 
 and John Winthrop in this city, tlic former to be located in the 
 square at the foot of Brattle street, and the latter on Montgom- 
 ery square or some other suitable location. 
 
 Aldermen Stebbins and Kelly made a few remai'ks in sup- 
 port of this order, and it was passed unanimously. Aldermen 
 Stebbins and Brock were appointed on the committee. 
 
 On the 20th October the committee reported as follows : — 
 
 The special committee appointed to consider tiie expedienc}' of erect- 
 ing statues of Samuel Adams and John Wintliroj) in this city beg leave 
 to submit the following report : — 
 
 It was the feeling of the committee, in performing the dut}- assigned 
 them, that the city would probably obtain the most satisfiictory statues 
 by procuring, if possible, duplicates of those of Adams and Winthro]) 
 
r)0 .vrrEXDix. 
 
 ODiitriliuteil by the State of Massacluisetts to the national gallery at 
 Washington, and niaile by Miss Anne Whitney and Richard S. Green- 
 ough, resi^ectively. The casts of these statues are preserved, and the 
 labor and expense of furnishing duplicate statues would be much less 
 than in designing and executing new ones. 
 
 With this idea in mind the committee obtained authority, as will be 
 remembered, to contract with Mr. Greenough for furnishing a duplicate 
 of his AVinthrop statue, and they wei'e disposed to contract with Miss 
 AVhitney also, in like manner, for a duplicate of her statue of Adams; 
 but. upon further consideration, decided in the latter case to invite 
 competition from one or two other resident artists. 
 
 ^lodels for the proposed Adams statue were accordingly received 
 from Thomas R. Gould and Martin ^lilmore, of Boston, and also frt)m 
 Alexander Doyle, of Ilallowell, Me., Avho, although not invited to sub- 
 mit a model, was allowed to do so hy the committee. 
 
 The studies submitted were in competition with Miss Whitney's com- 
 pleted statue. They were placed on exhibition in City Hall, and 
 several gentlemen versed in art matters were invited to inspect them 
 and give an opinion as to their relative merits. 
 
 The committee have no hesitation in saying that the weight of oi^inion 
 was decidedly in favor of ^liss Whitney's work; and, considering all 
 the circumstances, they have felt fully warranted in giving her tlie 
 commission. 
 
 It is specially gratifying to find that the ccniimittee were entirely 
 imited in this matter, and also that their views coincided with those of 
 His Honor the Mayor, and, so far as known, of the gentlemen who were 
 invited to pass judgment upon the studies submitted by the different 
 artists. 
 
 The committee would respectfully recommend the i)assage of the 
 accompanving order. 
 
 iir(;ii (vmuKN, 
 
 S. r.. STEIUUXS. 
 CH.VULES II. r,. r.ItECK. 
 
 ('iiinmillt't. 
 
STATUE OF SAMUEL ADAMS. 51 
 
 Ordered, That His Honor the Ma^-or, with three members of this 
 Board, be a special committee authorized to contract -with Anne "Wliit- 
 ney for the delivery to this city of a bronze statue of Samuel Adams, 
 at a cost not exceeding $4,800; said sum to be paid from the income of 
 the Phillips Street Fund. 
 
 The order was passed, and Aldermen O'Brien, Stebbins, and Breck 
 were appointed on the committee. 
 
 In accordance with this order a contract was made with Miss 
 Whitney to furnish the statue in season to be placed in position 
 on the 4th July, 1880. 
 
 By an order passed Xoveniber 3, the conuuittee were re- 
 quested to locate the statue in the open space at the junction of 
 Brattle street, Cornhill, Washington street, and Devonshire 
 street. 
 
 On the 17th Xoveniber the following was submitted : — 
 
 The Special Committee of the Board of Aldermen charged with the 
 erection of the statue of Samuel Adams, who were requested by an 
 order of this Board to locate said statue in the si^ace formed by the 
 junction of Brattle street, Cornhill, Washington street, and Devonshire 
 street, having considered the subject, would respectfully i-ecommend 
 the passage of the accomiDanying order : — 
 
 Ordered, That the Committee on the Adams Statue, in consultation 
 with the Committee on Paving, be and they are hereby authorized to 
 select a suitable site for said Adams statue in the open space formed by 
 the junction of Brattle street, Cornhill, Washington street, and Devon- 
 shire street. 
 
 Ordered, That the open space formed by the junction of Brattle 
 street, Cornhill, Washington street, and Devonshire street be hereafter 
 called and known as Adams square. 
 
 Passed. 
 
.)2 A r TEX nix. 
 
 fl:iiiii;irv \'2. ISSO, nil onliT Avas ;ul()])tO(l n])]iointing; His 
 Honor the MaNorand Altlri'iiicn ( )"r>ii(ii. rn'cck. and Wliitti'n 
 a sj)Ocial coniniittoo on tlu' 8ul)ji'ct. An onKr. [)as>i'(l Ajiiil 
 11', anthori/i'd this ronmiittcc to contract tor a snitaMc pedes- 
 tal, and a contract was made with the HaUowcll (ii-anitt- Com- 
 pany to tiirnish a pedestal made aceortliny: to a design drawu 
 hv ^fr. (leoriic A. Chmuh, City Architect, and to erect the 
 same, for thi- snni ot" S1,S()(). 
 
 The height ot' the pedestal is ten feet and one inch. The 
 die is three feet square, constructed of C^nincy granite. The 
 pedestal and jdinth to the sanu' are higldy polished. The i)ase, 
 or sul)structnre, including the fenders to a height of about two 
 feet and four inches above the grade, is unpolished. 
 
 A broad curb is provided six feet from the base line of the 
 pedestal to level the grade, and to give protection to persons 
 viewing the monument. 
 
 The following inscriptions, prepared by His Honor ]Mayor 
 Prince, are cut on the four faces of the die, in V-sunk 
 letters, ijilded : — 
 
S T AT U E OF S A M U E L A D A .AI S . 53 
 
 SAMUEL ADAMS 
 
 17 22-1803 
 A PATR I OT 
 
 HE ORGAXIZED THE REVOLUTIOX 
 
 AND 
 
 SIGNED THE DEGEARATIOX OF IXDEPEXDEXCE 
 
 GOVERNOR 
 
 A TRUE LEADER OF THE PEOPLE 
 
 A STATESMAN 
 
 I X C R R U P T I B L E A X D FEARLESS 
 
 ERECTED A.D. 1880 
 
 FRO 31 A FCXD BEQCEATHED TO THE 
 
 CITY OF BOSTON 
 
 B y 
 
 JONATHAN PHILLIPS 
 
:a 
 
 A IMM-: N 1) 1 X. 
 
 Tho Stiituo tacos, l)v exact niea?uroinent. the l^xinkor Hill 
 Moiuuneut. 
 
 
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 WtRT 
 BOOKBINDING 
 
 CraniMlle Pa 
 JUO *UG 1989 
 
 
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LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 
 
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