E 
 ., I80I 
 
 O B A T I O N 
 
 I) •CLI ^' p;iiE 1) ox Til 10 
 
 FOURTH OF JULY, 1861, 
 
 THE MUNICIPAL AUTHORITIES 
 
 C I T ^ OP" B O S T O IST 
 
 BY THEOPFILUS PARSONS, 
 
 ttf) an Jlppenliix, 
 
 BOSTON: 
 J. E. HARWELL & CO., CITY PRINTERS, 
 
 No. 32 CONGItESS SfllEKT. 
 
 18 6 1. 
 
Glass. 
 Book. 
 
 
^-^kk^.. 
 
 O E A TI O N 
 
 DELIVERED ON THE 
 
 FOURTH OF JULY, 1861, 
 
 THE MUNICIPAL AUTHORITIES 
 
 CITY OF BOSTON 
 
 BY THEOPHILUS P AESONS. I Hl'lSfii-, 
 
 itf) an IppcnUii. 
 
 OF coTi^^ 
 
 I-' U. S, 
 
 ^of WASH\'*3- 
 
 B S T N : 
 
 J. E. FAPtWELL&CO., CITY PRINTEES, 
 
 No. 32 Congress Street. 
 
 1 8 G 1. 
 
t^ BOSTorriA d 
 
 \^ CONmiTAAU. 
 
 
CITY OF BOSTON 
 
 In Common Oou7icil, July 5, 1861. 
 Kesolved : That the thanks of the City Council are hereby 
 presented to the Hon. Theophilus Parsons for his very elo- 
 quent and patriotic Oration before the Municipal Authorities 
 of the City of Boston on the occasion of the Eighty-fifth Anni- 
 versary of the Declaration of the Independence of the United 
 States of America, and that he be requested to furnish a 
 copy for publication. 
 
 Sent up for concurrence. 
 
 JOSEPH H. BRADLEY, President. 
 
 In Board of Aldermen, July 8, 18G1. 
 Concurred. 
 
 SILAS PEIRCE, Oliairman. 
 
 Approved, July 10, 1861. 
 
 JOSEPH M. WIGHTMAN, Mayw* 
 
ORATION. 
 
ORATION. 
 
 Our fathers, in acquiring at great loss of life and 
 treasure, their independence from England, had no 
 intention and no desire to escape from government. 
 They knew, for they were wise, that the absence of all 
 government from masses of men is an absolute impos- 
 sibility. They knew that anarchy itself is govern- 
 ment ; the government of passion, of selfishness, of 
 folly intensified into madness ; of wickedness devel- 
 oped to its highest power, and given up to the fearful 
 work of self-punishment. They knew that govern- 
 ment was not only necessary, but inevitable. And all 
 their efforts were bent towards establishing the best 
 government. 
 
 They were wise men. The annals of human 
 thought exhibit nowhere a more profound, acute, far- 
 reaching, and all-embracing sagacity on the subject of 
 human government, than some of the writings of that 
 day. But, if it was of Divine Providence that at this 
 most important juncture in the history of mankind 
 there should be wise and faithful men, able to cast 
 
upon the great topic before them all the light to be 
 derived from the continued efforts of powerful minds, 
 prepared by a careful study of the past, and invig- 
 orated by a deep and constant sense of the immeas- 
 urable importance of their work, that was but one of 
 the means which that Providence employed for a 
 great end. 
 
 I do not forget that the recognitions of our pecu- 
 liar advantages which the return of this day invite, are 
 apt to run into boasting and harmful self-glorification. 
 I would remember this and avoid it. But I must not 
 refrain from expressing to you my belief, my most 
 deliberate, long and carefully considered, and most 
 profound conviction, that it has been, and is, the 
 purpose of Him who holds in His almighty hand 
 the destinies of men and nations, to establish, here, 
 a prosperous nation, under a better form of govern- 
 ment than has ever before existed, or now exists 
 elsewhere. But all the purposes of Providence which 
 are wrought through the instrumentality of men, are 
 to a certain extent delivered to their free agency, 
 and may therefore be retarded and obstructed by the 
 wrongful exercise of that free agency. And it will 
 be my endeavor to-day to direct your attention to a 
 few, and only a few, of what seem to me the footsteps 
 of Omnipotence along the pathway to the great pur- 
 pose I have indicated ; to point out to you some of the 
 obstacles which resist, and some of the perils which 
 
threaten this great purpose, and some of our duties 
 in relation to them. 
 
 Let us begin with the inquiry, what the best gov- 
 ernment must be ; and the answer may be, in one 
 word, self-government. On this topic, as on so many 
 others, we may be helped by remembering that as a 
 nation is composed of men, it cannot contain any 
 other elements of national character than those which 
 are contributed by the men of the nation. And when 
 we look at men individually and from the study of 
 human character, reach certain definite laws and con- 
 clusions concerning human life in the individual, we 
 may well hope that these laws and conclusions will 
 throw some light upon analogous questions as they 
 
 exist in reference to a nation. 
 
 * 
 
 What, then, is the best government for the indi- 
 vidual? If I put the question in another shape — 
 if I ask whether he is best governed who is surren- 
 dered to his own fantasies and proclivities and lusts, 
 and exasperates all these by utter unrestraint, and 
 makes no reference to right or wrong, or the law of 
 God or the law of man, the question answers itself. 
 I am describing a man who has done all that he can 
 do to become only a wild beast. Better were it for 
 him that some arm of power should hold him, some 
 fear restrain him, some irresistible command control 
 him, and all these influences compel him to decent 
 conduct. Then, it might at least be possible that his 
 
10 
 
 lusts and follies, because they were repressed, would 
 be enfeebled. Then it might again be possible that 
 the severity of external control could be safely re- 
 laxed ; that some acknowledgment of law, some 
 thought of right, would begin to exert a power 
 within him, and thereby facilitate the entrance of yet 
 better thoughts and higher motives, and that this 
 advancing and ascending progress might go on, until 
 a control from within accepted and welcomed a con- 
 trol from without as a. necessary help. And the con- 
 summation of all this would come when the law of 
 truth, of right, and of instructed conscience was all 
 the law he needed, all the law he felt ; and this law 
 put him at ease with the system of law prevailing all 
 around him, and the man stood and lived in perfect 
 peace with the law and perfect peace with himself. 
 
 This is but an ideal picture ; far from the reality 
 existing in the best of us. It is, however, a picture 
 of that last result towards which we are led by all 
 moral improvement, all elevation of motive, all recog- 
 nition of the authority of right, and all confirma- 
 tion of our love of goodness. 
 
 I have ventured to present to you this picture, 
 because I cannot but think that the history of the 
 past and the condition of the present lead to the con- 
 clusion that a law and method of progress, somewhat 
 analogous at least, prevail in the growth of nations. 
 History is but the biography of Man ; and the lessons 
 
11 
 
 which are taught by the life of Man cannot be alto- 
 gether remote and diverse from those we may gather 
 from the lives of men. 
 
 To see how the progress of mankind has accorded 
 with these principles, we must go far back towards 
 the beginning, and in an address like this it is of 
 course impossible to give more than the most cursory 
 glance at the evidence which the pages of history 
 offer. But even this glance will show us that w^hile 
 government was known only as unmitigated despotism 
 in the Eastern and ancient world, it received impor- 
 tant modifications as it passed through Greece ; and 
 that the despotism of the central power of the vast 
 Empire of Rome was accompanied with a singular 
 amount of freedom and self-government in the cities 
 and boroughs and lesser provinces into which the 
 Roman Empire was divided. In this way some prep- 
 aration was made for the feudal system, which was, 
 in theory, a government of laws and not of men, for 
 it assigned his own place and his own rights to every 
 man. And so the possibility of deliverance from a 
 wholly external control, from a power which was 
 over him and against him, instead of within him 
 and his own, grew from age to age. At length this 
 new world was discovered. Near enough to the old 
 world to receive colonists with no more hindrance 
 and difficulty than were needed to sift out the weak 
 from the strong, that the seed of a new nation might 
 
12 
 
 have due vitality. Far enough from the old world 
 to prevent an immediate and controlling influence 
 from stretching across the waters and causing the 
 future to be but a repetition of the past ; far enough 
 to permit the germs of nations planted here to grow 
 up into the great possibility which awaited them. 
 And then the hour came, and the last word of God's 
 providence in human government was uttered when 
 he said to a great nation, "Go forth, be free, and 
 
 GOVERN YOURSELVES." 
 
 The last word ] Yes. I so believe, if we are 
 not deaf to it. In the infinite future there may be 
 and will be vast changes and infinite improvements. 
 These will lessen, or remedy, or prevent many evils 
 which we already discern, and many more which 
 we do not yet discern, in our republican institutions, 
 and whatever good has yet come, or may now be 
 hoped for from these institutions, will be increased 
 a thousand fold, as they are changed for the better. 
 But the nations will never again regard as the only 
 possible or desirable government, that of a power 
 distinct from the people, and deriving no force and 
 no life from their consent and voluntary recognition. 
 The work we have begun will not be suppressed and 
 extinguished. It will live, and it will grow into the 
 fulness of its stature ; and that it may live and grow, 
 the wants, the deficiencies, and the errors of any age 
 will be disclosed by whatever lessons may be necessary 
 
13 
 
 to teach them, and will be remedied by whatever 
 means are then found best for that purpose. 
 
 Govern yourselves ! But how ] This great work 
 may be done well or ill. It may be so done that the 
 influences of evil which mar it may gradually be 
 discovered, resisted, and suppressed. And then the 
 future of this country will be one of gradual improve- 
 ment, which will be on the whole constant, although 
 subject to alternations ; to periods when evil will seem 
 to be in the ascendant ; to nights so long and so dark 
 that for the time they extinguish the hope that day 
 can come again. And yet a new day will dawn, the 
 brighter for the preceding darkness. Or this work 
 may be so done that these influences of evil will 
 more than mar it, — will prevail against it, and it 
 will be taken from our hands and those of our chil- 
 dren, and given to others who will profit by our 
 example and by its fearful consequences. 
 
 Of the perils which beset us in this point of view, 
 I would speak of one only, for that seems near to us, 
 already obvious, and possibly growing. It is that 
 which comes from the enormous fallacy that the will 
 of the people constitutes and determines right and 
 originates the authority of law. But what is law if 
 it be not truth in its application and its power ; and 
 how else can the right be determined but by the 
 truth ? Can any man, can any men, make truth ? 
 
 What then is left for us I To rejoice that it is 
 
14 
 
 given to us, to search in freedom for the truth, and 
 for the right which the truth teaches, to find it, to 
 make it our law, to reverence it, and to obey it. 
 Precisely that form and system of political govern- 
 ment is then the best which is best adapted to guide 
 and facilitate the inquiry after the right ; to insure 
 with perfect freedom of inquiry, sufficient deliber- 
 ation, and the absence of obscuring passion and per- 
 sonal fantasy, and all the advantage of mutual counsel, 
 and all the security we can have that the law, when 
 it is duly made, shall express the common judgment 
 of the people, and promote their common interests, 
 and deserve their respect and win their love. 
 
 This is the great end of republican institutions. 
 And I have now to say to you, not as the expression 
 of an opinion called for by the day, but, again as a 
 deliberate and profound belief, that the peculiar con- 
 stitution of this country in its essential feature, in the 
 fact that it is a sovereignty formed of sovereignties, 
 is a frame of government better adapted to accom- 
 plish the work of republican government than any 
 other which has been devised by human wisdom. 
 Nor, indeed, do I say all that I think when I use 
 these words, for I do not think that our present form 
 of government was altogether devised by human wis- 
 dom. On the contrary, I suppose its most essential 
 characteristic was accepted from necessity ; was re- 
 ceived because it was prepared by the course of 
 
15 
 
 events, and as it were forced upon the framers of our 
 constitution. They did not choose it, for they were 
 not at Hberty to reject it. They took it, they used it, 
 for it was there in their hands, and they could not 
 lay it aside. We could become nothing else than a 
 State formed of States ; a Sovereignty formed of 
 Sovereignties. 
 
 This very peculiar feature in our national constitu- 
 tion is wholly without precedent. There have been 
 leagues and alliances and confederacies all through 
 history. But our own constitution attempted some- 
 thing more than this, — something more than ever 
 was attempted before. It endeavored to constitute a 
 nation out of political elements which still retained 
 to a great extent, and in most important particulars, 
 their own independent sovereignty. 
 
 I am not aware that European political writers 
 have ever regarded this as anything but a source of 
 weakness and danger. A necessity, perhaps, which 
 there was no way to avoid ; which was still, under 
 favorable circumstances, as our history proves, com- 
 patible with great prosperity, but which was always 
 a source of weakness and of danger, which the first 
 powerful assault would fatally reveal. Nor have our 
 own writers expressed different sentiments. It is well 
 known that some or indeed many of the ablest of 
 the men who framed our Constitution were full of 
 fear on this very ground, and some in public and 
 
16 
 
 some in private, spoke of it as the best they could 
 make, and as something which might at least last 
 for a time, and open the way for a better. 
 
 No such opinion, no such feeling have I ; for, on 
 the contrary, precisely this peculiarity of our consti- 
 tution, that it makes us a nation composed of States 
 which preserve watchfully and wisely their own 
 rights and powers, seems to me the corner-stone of 
 our prosperity, and the foundation on which our 
 hopes may rest. 
 
 It is my belief that the system of government 
 « 
 formed by the Constitution of the United States, 
 
 is not to be regarded as, upon the whole, the best 
 thing which circumstances permitted our fathers to 
 construct, but as in itself, near to the perfection of 
 a republican government. 
 
 For this belief, I am well aware that I can quote 
 no authority and rest upon no precedent ; and I 
 should be glad to give all my reasons for it. But, in 
 the time which I may occupy to-day, this is impos- 
 sible. Let me try however to intimate some of the 
 grounds for my belief, by a reference to our own- 
 State Constitution ; and I use the word now as in- 
 cluding not only the written Constitution, but the 
 complex of all the institutions of our beloved 
 Commonwealth. Asking you then for the moment 
 to forget, what we ought not always to forget, the 
 faults and errors, the perversions and corruptions 
 
17 
 
 still existing among us, let us look at our whole 
 polity, as if it were precisely all that it should be. 
 
 The first form of union for a common regulation 
 is in the family. And all our citizens who are not 
 exceptions to a prevailing method live in families ; 
 and it is there that the work of government begins ; 
 there its first lessons are formed ; there its habits are 
 formed ; there its first fruits are gathered ; and there, 
 if that government is wise and good, those fruits 
 are peace and happiness and mutual assistance and 
 universal improvement. 
 
 But families need that duties should be performed 
 and advantages secured which demand combination, 
 and the strength and support of united counsel, 
 and united action ; and to this end, families com- 
 bine into townships or cities. To the town or city, 
 as an organization, are committed all these duties 
 and utilities the need of which has called them 
 into being, and to the town or city is freely in- 
 trusted all the power requisite to a full and com- 
 plete discharge of all those duties. 
 
 And then the same principle is further applied. 
 Beyond those of the towns and cities are again 
 common duties and utilities which are all those of 
 a certain district ; and within this district the towns 
 coalesce into counties, to which again as separate 
 organizations are confided the duties which can be 
 best discharged in this way and by this means, and 
 
 3 
 
18 
 
 with these duties goes all the power requisite to the 
 best performance of them. 
 
 Nor is this principle then arrested. For the coun- 
 ties are gathered into one body, and this is the State. 
 And who are they who then form the State — who 
 constitute the State ? The people, and the whole 
 people. They who first form its families, and then its 
 towns and cities and counties, finally, in their widest 
 assemblage, form the State. And for what do they 
 form if? Precisely for all those duties and all those 
 utilities which embrace the whole people, which re- 
 quire for their due performance a due regard to the 
 whole people, and which may serve not only to cement 
 us all together by a common interest, a common safety, 
 and a common prosperity, but may use the strength 
 of the whole for the protection of each, and for the 
 preservation of all personal rights, and family rights, 
 and all the rights of those lesser and larger communi- 
 ties into which families and persons are gathered. 
 
 And then what power do the people who constitute 
 the State give to if? Abundant power to discharge 
 all its duties ; to do the whole of its w^ork of legisla- 
 tion for the whole, and of common defence and pro- 
 tection through all the departments of government ; 
 but nothing more. This, then, is the theory of our 
 State polity ; and so far as we are wise, this it is in 
 active operation; and so far as we are truly prosper- 
 ous, this prosperity is its effect. 
 
19 
 
 And now let me ask if the thought ever entered into 
 the mind of a human being, that it would be wise for 
 Massachusetts to abandon to-morrow all town and 
 city and county lines and organizations, and commit 
 all the duties now performed by their means to the 
 central power of the State. There is no one of you 
 who can imagine such a thing. And he who should 
 desire it must, if he would be consistent, go yet far- 
 ther, and propose also to obliterate all family lines, 
 all family organization and authority, and ask of the 
 central power to determine what food shall be placed 
 on every table and what clothes every member of the 
 household shall wear. 
 
 The absurdity of such a supposition is so enor- 
 mous that it seems almost equally absurd to think 
 about it or to speak of it. And yet I will ask you 
 to pardon me while I state why the supposition of 
 such a change in our form of government is so 
 absurd. It is because we all feel instinctively, if not 
 consciously, that our present form of government is 
 perfectly adapted to the great end of all republican 
 government, and that is, a wise self-government; and 
 the reason of this adaptation is, that it leaves to the 
 individual, with the least possible control or inter- 
 ference, the freedom of voluntary choice and action. 
 And it gathers individuals into communities, the 
 least, the larger, and at length the largest, only so 
 far as a common necessity and a common good require 
 
20 
 
 this. And then it seeks so to form these communi- 
 ties and so to provide for them, and so to act by its 
 common legislation upon individuals and the bodies 
 into which they are gathered, as to lead and guide 
 each and all into that conduct which shall be best for 
 each and for all, with the least possible compulsory 
 action upon any. I have endeavored to illustrate my 
 theory by a reference to our own Commonwealth, and 
 to give a reason for my opinion, because I wished to 
 prepare you for the question I have now to ask. It 
 is, when Massachusetts and her sister States came 
 together and formed a nation, what else did they but 
 take a step further forward upon the same pathway, 
 which our own State does so well and so wisely in 
 treading for herself? It seems to me that it was pre- 
 cisely this step and no other which was taken when 
 the Constitution of the United States was formed, 
 and this nation was born. 
 
 I know that I may be met at once by the objection 
 that our general government is, after all, but a qual- 
 ified and imperfect government. I may be reminded 
 that it was from Massachusetts that the amendment 
 came which expressly declares that all powers not 
 given, are withheld. And then it may be asked is 
 there not here a manifest division of sovereignty and 
 of power, and does not this show that much is wanting 
 — that all which is retained at home is wanting — to 
 constitute the full strength of a national government? 
 
21 
 
 My answer is twofold. First, I say, the national 
 government has at this moment, by force of the Con- 
 stitntion, all the strength — absolutely all — which it 
 needs, or could profitably use, as a central national 
 government. I answer next, that by the admirable 
 provisions of our Constitution, the reserved powers 
 of every State may be, and, so far as that State does 
 its duty, will be, prepared and developed to their 
 utmost efficiency, and then imparted to the nation 
 in its need. 
 
 Do we want a proof and illustration of all this 1 
 Very recent events have supplied one, which his- 
 tory will not forget, if we do. How happened it 
 that, a few weeks since, when the general govern- 
 ment seemed to be feeble, and was in peril, and the 
 demand — I may well say the cry — for help came 
 forth — why it was that Massachusetts was the first to 
 spring to the rescue? Why was it that she was able, 
 in four days from that in which this cry reached her, 
 to add a new glory to the day of Lexington? Why 
 was it that she could begin that offering of needed 
 aid which has since poured itself in a full, and 
 swollen, and rushing stream, into the war power of the 
 national government? Even as I ask the question, the 
 answer is in all your minds. It is, that Massachusetts 
 could do this because she had done her own duty 
 beforehand. She could do this because, within her 
 own bounds, she had prepared and organized her own 
 
22 
 
 strength, and stood ready for the moment when she 
 could place it in the outstretched hands of the gov- 
 ernment. And other States followed, offering their 
 contributions with no interval — with almost too little 
 of delay ; with a haste Avhich was sometimes precipi- 
 tation ; with an importunate begging for acceptance 
 — all of it yet far behind the earnest desire and de- 
 mand of the people of these States, until at length 
 we stood before an astonished world the strongest 
 government on the face of the earth. 
 
 I used this very phrase three months ago, when 
 all was dark enough. I said so then, and when 
 perils thicken and reverses come, (and come they 
 must, for no human government can wholly escape 
 them,) I shall say so still, because my theory of our 
 constitution, and my understanding of its purpose 
 and its adaptation to its purpose, lead me to hope 
 very confidently that our national government, as 
 the organ of a nation endowed with self-govern- 
 ment, will prove to be invested with the nation's 
 might, to be used for the nation's good, in whatever 
 way may prove to be the best. 
 
 Stronger therefore for all the purposes to which 
 our national government should apply its strength, 
 stronger for all the good it can do and all the harm 
 it can prevent, that government is, as it is now con- 
 structed, and because it is so constructed, than it could 
 be if it were the single central, consolidated power 
 
23 
 
 of other nations. And it will show its strength, not 
 by preventing all checks and reverses, for that is im- 
 possible ; but, as I believe, in a prompt and thorough 
 recovery from them. 
 
 When we remember that our government is a new 
 experiment, let us remember that a new work was 
 to be done, and for that work a new instrument was 
 required. The period in the progress of mankind 
 had been reached, when a government was to be 
 formed, which should possess and in time of need 
 be able to exert, the force of the nation for national 
 purposes, and the combined power of its component 
 parts for all these purposes which embrace the in- 
 terests of all, and yet leave each of these parts, 
 States, cities, families, and individuals, in the utmost 
 possible freedom to enjoy the blessing and discharge 
 the duty of self-government. 
 
 When before, where else has this ever been the 
 design of government? And now, after nearly a 
 century of experience, where lives the man who will 
 dare to say that he could devise for the accomplish- 
 ment of this design a frame of government better 
 adapted in its essential principles and in its general 
 forms, than that which we possess? 
 
 A failure ! One must know far more of history 
 than I have been able to learn, who can point to me 
 one instance where a new political instrument for a 
 new work was created and put in operation, with no 
 
24 
 
 direct help from experience ; and this instrument 
 bore, in its operation, such testimony to the sagacity 
 of its framers. 
 
 Wc hear the outcry of " State rights," and we reply 
 with our watchword of " national unity ; " and it is 
 difficult to believe that there is not between the prin- 
 ciples implied in these phrases something of discord- 
 ance, something of antagonism. But when did our 
 own city, or any of the communities of our Common- 
 wealth, lament that the central power of the State 
 could not come within their precincts, and exercise 
 their specific powers for the discharge of their specific 
 duties 1 Who has ever imagined that our Common- 
 wealth was weak because its families, towns and cities 
 and counties were well ordered communities, within 
 their own spheres independent, or, if you please, 
 sovereign? Who has ever imagined that a county, 
 a city, a town, a family, because it has reserved rights, 
 which the central power is bound to respect and pre- 
 serve, has therefore a right at its own pleasure and 
 in its own way to separate from the rest and dissolve 
 the unity of the whole ] Who, that has ever given a 
 thought to the subject, has not known that our Com- 
 monwealth is none the less One because it is thus 
 composed of distinct elements, and is, for this very 
 reason, irresistible in the might which it can exert 
 in its own wide sphere for the good and the safety 
 of all? And I insist that the great Commonwealth, 
 
25 
 
 formed of all the States, is also One, and also strong 
 and irresistible within its own all-embracing sphere, 
 because it is formed on precisely the same principles, 
 and for this reason, and in this way, possesses of right 
 all the force of its united sovereignties ; and possesses 
 this in fact, where there is not rebellion. If this 
 seems too' trustful, too hopeful a faith in the Consti- 
 tution which our fathers have given us, glance with 
 me for a moment at the long course of antecedents 
 by which it was prepared and built up, and possibly 
 we may find there also some grounds upon which the 
 faith may rest. 
 
 The colonies of North America were formed in 
 rapid succession, and were scattered all along our 
 seaboard. They were formed, to some extent, by 
 different kinds of people, who came not all from one 
 country nor moved by the same impulse, and they 
 brought with them different characteristics. They 
 were planted at distances which permitted them, in- 
 dependently, or, at least, without much assimilating 
 influence of one upon another, to grow up, each in 
 its own way, each under its own circumstances, and 
 each to develop its own peculiarities. And yet they 
 were near enough, and similar enough, to seek and to 
 have much intercourse, and to render to each other 
 much assistance. As time passed on, they found it 
 desirable, in some instances, to unite and coalesce 
 
 under a common government, and in others, to form 
 i 
 
26 
 
 alliances for mutual assistance and protection. And 
 in this way some unity of feeling and of interest, 
 and some tendency to community of action, grew up. 
 And these experiences undoubtedly facilitated, and 
 perhaps I might say made possible, their united action 
 in their efforts to obtain independence. 
 
 As the feeling that independence must be won, and 
 would be worth all that it might cost, grew stronger 
 and more general, it became evident to the far-sighted 
 and the patriotic that there must be some concert of 
 action. In June, 1765, James Otis, of Boston, advised 
 the calling of an American Congress. But this 
 measure met with much opposition, and for a time 
 it seemed as if there could be no union. Then South 
 Carolina responded to Massachusetts, and declared for 
 union ! In New York, those who held similar views 
 established a newspaper, called the Constitutional Cou- 
 rant, which had much influence. It bore for its motto 
 the words, first used by Franklin nearly ten years 
 before, " Join or Die." Never was the guiding truth 
 of a great emergency expressed more emphatically or 
 in fewer words. Join or die. This was indeed the 
 great truth of that day, of every day since then, and 
 of the very hour in which we live. Other States 
 acceded, and on the 7th of October, 1765, the fii'st 
 Congress, consisting of delegates regularly appointed 
 from six States, with others, representing- three more, 
 assembled at New York. Of the doings of this Con- 
 
27 
 
 gress I have only time to say, that they strengthened 
 and diffused the desire for united action. And as the 
 necessity became greater and more apparent, at length 
 what is called the Continental Congress, assembled 
 in Philadelphia on the 5th of September, 1774, and 
 then on the 10th of May, 1775. Still, so great was 
 the jealousy of a central power, that nothing but the 
 peril of impending war, and its pressure when it came, 
 held even this Congress of delegates together. But 
 they did hold together ; and it was this Congress 
 which, on the 15th of June, 1775, appointed Wash- 
 ington Commander-in-Chief of the Continental army, 
 and on the -Itli day of July, 1776, declared our 
 Independence. 
 
 In that declaration these two elements of the unity 
 of the whole and the sovereignty of the parts were 
 mingled. It begins, " When it becomes necessary 
 for ONE PEOPLE to dissolve the political bonds which 
 have connected them with another," and at its close 
 declares that the former colonies are " free and inde- 
 pendent States." There they stood, free from all 
 external dominion, and as independent of each other 
 as of England. 
 
 In eight days from the -tth of July the articles 
 of confederation were reported to Congress by a com- 
 mittee of the delegates, but were not adopted by Con- 
 gress and proposed to the States for ratification until 
 the following year ; nor were they finally ratified by 
 
28 
 
 the States until March, 1 781 : or until five years had 
 elapsed. 
 
 And yet, in 1777, Washington, when, at Morris- 
 town in New Jersey, he found himself in the midst, 
 if not of treason, of an indifference which was hard- 
 ening into treason, by proclamation required all who 
 had received protections from the British commander 
 to surrender them and take an oath of allegiance to 
 the United States ! United, when and how were 
 they united? In Congress he was censured. In the 
 legislature of New Jersey it was declared that the re- 
 quired oath encroached upon the prerogatives of the 
 State, and that it was absurd to swear allegiance to the 
 United States before even a confederacy was formed. 
 But even then Washington was justified by the lan- 
 guage of the Declaration of Independence ; even then 
 were these States united in the contemplation of the 
 good and the wise, and most of all in the heart of him 
 who was best among the good and wisest among the 
 wise. 
 
 The articles of confederation did not even purport 
 to make of us a nation. If they are studied, they will 
 prove the earnest desire of some at least of those who 
 drew them, that we might become a nation. But they 
 stopped so far short of this as to form of the States 
 only a confederacy. These articles were skilfully 
 drawn, and gave to the Central Government all the 
 power which the States could then be induced to part 
 
29 
 
 with. Some semblance — something indeed of the 
 substance of national power was given ; although 
 there was no regular legislative, executive, or judi- 
 cial department. Probably all the power was given 
 to Congress that it was thought necessary that it 
 should possess to do the work that lay before it. 
 This work it did, well and thoroughly ; for while the 
 thirteen States were held together by the presence 
 of a common enemy, a common war and a common 
 necessity, the articles of confederation sufficed to 
 make that war triumphant ; but they sufficed for this, 
 because the sagacity and singleness of purpose of 
 the men who wielded the powers of government, the 
 patriotism of the people, and the wisdom and con- 
 stancy of Washington supplied — so far at least as 
 was needed for success — all deficiencies. 
 
 Then came peace, and it was soon apparent that the 
 want of unity in the nation, and of power in the gov- 
 ernment and its organs, not only prevented the deep 
 wounds of the war from healing, but seemed even to 
 aggravate all the mischiefs which followed, and which 
 made the first years of peace no years of returning 
 prosperity. The central government no longer sus- 
 tained and invigorated by the war, found itself utterly 
 unable to prevent or to avenge insults and outrages to 
 our flag : it could not even repel the incursion of the 
 savages on our borders ; it could not pay the interest 
 of our national debt ; it had no credit, no force, no 
 
30 
 
 vital energy, and it may well be said to have died of 
 inherent weakness, for in 1787 it abrogated its own 
 functions, declared its inability to act as the govern- 
 ment of a nation, and it appealed to the ultimate 
 source of all political power— the people of the whole 
 country. And then came the convention of 1787. 
 Wlien they met, there was in that assembly as much' 
 of sagacity, of varied intellectual accomplishment and 
 resource, and of earnest devotion to duty as ever co- 
 operated in a great work. And with all these mingled 
 as" little of folly and weakness, as little personal ambi- 
 tion, as little self-seeking of any kind, and as little of 
 the disturbing force which these ignoble qualities 
 would exert, as was possible under the conditions of 
 humanity. 
 
 If, in saying that the articles of confederation 
 carried this country successfully through the war of 
 independence, I give them high praise, I believe that 
 I give them still higher when I say that they made 
 the National Constitution possible. These articles 
 familiarized the minds of the whole country to the 
 idea of united action and a central government. They 
 proved indisputably the immense advantages which 
 might be obtained thereby ; and they proved as cer- 
 tainly that to secure all these advantages, it was 
 absolutely necessary that the nation should have a 
 greater unity than they gave to it, and the central 
 government more power. And, aided and illustrated 
 
31 
 
 by the course of events, they produced a general 
 impression, especially among leading minds, every- 
 where, that there might be a stricter national unity, 
 and a stronger central government, without absorbing 
 or imperilling those State rights Avhich were de- 
 servedly dear to the people of every State. Thus it 
 was that this jealous love for the sovereign rights of 
 the several States yielded slowly, reluctantly, and only 
 step by step, to the inevitable necessity for closer 
 union. It was, at the beginning, paramount and 
 absolute. But it yielded, not, I rejoice that' I can say, 
 until it was suppressed or overcome, but until it stood 
 in just equilibrium with the prevailing sense of the 
 need and the good of a national existence and a 
 national government. Then these two sentiments, or 
 principles, met and co-opei^ated ; and the result was 
 the Constitution of the United States. And this, I 
 again declare, I regard not merely as the best which 
 could then have been made, but as, in itself good, 
 and very good, and the best for the good of the 
 whole nation which could have been made, by an,y 
 men, under any circumstances. 
 
 Are you to understand me as saying that I consider 
 that this Constitution came into being in itself perfect, 
 and in itself able to go forward forever, the instru- 
 ment of a great nation's growth, prosperity, and hap- 
 piness, with no more help, with no new influences to 
 bear upon it and give to it added life and energy, 
 
32 
 
 and efficiency "? I mean no such thing. It needed 
 more, a vast deal more, before it could become — what 
 I think it is to be — a permanent instrument of the 
 greatest, the highest, and the completest political 
 good. 
 
 The problem to be solved in the establishment of 
 this government, or as it may be better said, in the 
 formation of this nation, was to create the best possi- 
 ble form of a repubhcan government by the perfect 
 reconciliation of the two elements of central power 
 and reserved rights. 
 
 In other words of the same meaning, the problem 
 was to create a system of government which should 
 arm the central power with all the force which it could 
 usefully exert, and yet leave to all whom it gathered 
 within its wide embrace the utmost possible freedom 
 for self-government, and the strongest assurance that 
 this freedom should be guarded but not weakened, 
 protected but not impaired. 
 
 This was done by the Constitution, as far as written 
 words could do it. For after all our experience, at 
 this day no words could mend that Constitution in this 
 respect ; none could make this balance of forces more 
 perfect. But another thing could be done, and re- 
 mained to be done. It was to fix the meaning of this 
 Constitution by practical construction. To fasten on 
 the public mind the conviction, and fill with it the 
 public heart, that our Constitution meant, on the one 
 
33 
 
 hand, a preservation of State rights, and on the other 
 indissoluble National Unity. To root this conviction 
 into the public life firmly, so that no storm could 
 shake it, so that no devastating force could rend it away. 
 It may not be possible to prevent these two elements 
 from sometimes, during the ages that will come, rising 
 separately into undue prominence. At one time, or by 
 one body or class, the national unity may be urged 
 until it threatens consolidation, and at another time 
 the principle of State rights may again assert itself 
 too strongly. But their reconciliation is hereafter to 
 be so established not by the written Constitution only 
 but by the constitution of the public sentiment and 
 the public will, that it will stand, even as our conti- 
 nent stands upon its rocky base, no more to be moved 
 from its foundation than our continent is moved by 
 the two great oceans which beat upon its shores. 
 
 And it is precisely this work which the war that 
 is upon us has come to do. 
 
 These two elements stood there, as I have said, 
 ready to be combined by the framers of the Consti- 
 tution. The one, that of a jealous regard to State 
 rights, had grown with the growth of the colonies. 
 The other, the desire of nationality, had arisen from 
 neccessity, and, generally, I think, was accepted only 
 as a necessity. And at that time, these two principles 
 were diffused in about the same proportion in one 
 part of the country as in another. It is well known, 
 
34 
 
 for example, that the Constitution was adopted with 
 as much reluctance in the North as in the South. 
 Those who are conversant with the history of those 
 days know that in our own Commonwealth the public 
 sentiment was strongly against it, and that it was 
 finally carried through only by the strenuous efforts 
 of those who desired its acceptance. 
 
 The Constitution was adopted, and soon began to 
 justify itself. I will not dwell upon the prosperity of 
 every kind which it gave to the nation. From day to 
 day, from age to age, it went on, far more beneficial in 
 its influence and operation than the most sanguine of 
 those who framed it had dared to hope. It ministered 
 to our pride, it advanced our position among the 
 nations, it filled our hands with wealth and our hearts 
 with rejoicing, until, at last, there were perhaps none 
 left in the Free States who did not ascribe to our 
 nationality this marvellous prosperity. 
 
 Why was it not so elsewhere and everywhere? 
 Had not the Slave States prospered also, and grown 
 from a handful to a multitude, and risen as we had 
 risen from poverty and depression into wealth'? Yes; 
 but not as we had grown. In the race we had gone 
 far beyond them. And forgetting all that they had 
 gained from the common nationality, they felt that 
 they gained less than we had. Their actual gain 
 was thus a comparative loss ; and then they made, 
 or many among them made, the enormous mistake 
 
35 
 
 of attributing this loss — this comparative failure 
 in the race of prosperity — to this common nation- 
 ality. 
 
 It was an enormous mistake, for this failure was 
 but to another cause. North and South entered upon 
 national existence, with a clog or hindrance com- 
 mon to both ; the hindrance, the misfortune of slavery. 
 There was undoubtedly, from the beginning, a differ- 
 ence between the two sections of this country in the 
 prevailing sentiment and belief concerning slavery. 
 And upon us, slavery pressed more lightly. We not 
 only felt it as an impediment, but were sure that it 
 was an evil, and favored by climate, and soil, and 
 the nature of our productions, we gradually but 
 rapidly cast it off. 
 
 They were not so favored. The influence of cir- 
 cumstances with us operated to make the slave 
 worthless, and left in full force the moral sentiment 
 which demanded his liberation. With them this 
 influence of circumstances made him valuable, and 
 soon very valuable, and conflicted with this senti- 
 ment, and overcame it, and at length, absolutely re- 
 versed it. And thus this evil thing, this mischief, 
 this misfortune, was fastened upon them. 
 
 May I not call it a misfortune ? May I not remem- 
 ber that the fetters of the slave chain the master to 
 the slave 1 And that while they held fast the negro 
 in his bondage, they accepted their own] They ac- 
 
36 
 
 cepted it with all its disastrous consequences ; all its 
 effects upon their material interests ; upon their polit- 
 ical and social condition ; upon their personal life ; 
 upon their very souls. They accepted it and more, 
 for at length they came to love it. And now because 
 they love it, they cannot see that it is the cause of the 
 inferiority they deplore, and therefore they cast all 
 the blame of this upon our common nationality. 
 
 I know, and thankful am I that I know, that what- 
 I have said does not apply to all who live in the 
 South. I know there are some, and I hope there are 
 many, even among the owners of slaves, who are not 
 led away by this delusion ; who do not love the slavery 
 of their fellow-men, nor their own slavery ; and who 
 find in the duties which grow out of this relation, 
 culture and nutriment for the sense of duty, and for 
 watchful kindness. And some there must be among 
 them who had hoped that our national unity would 
 exert a healthy influence, and would gradually make 
 slavery less evil, less mischievous, and finally remove 
 it altogether in whatever way might prove to be the 
 best. 
 
 AVhatever may be now the sentiment of the South, 
 we have all possible evidence that there was no gen- 
 eral, no prevailing desire for disunion a .short time 
 since. The incendiaries who kindled the fire in dark 
 corners, which had been skilfully prepared for the 
 torch, have fed it with falsehoods and delusions 
 
37 
 
 unparalleled in the history of fraud. If they have 
 succeeded in making the conflagration general, they 
 have done so only by a craft which long practice has 
 made perfect, and an audacity seldom recorded in the 
 annals of crime. But their craft governs their au- 
 dacity, and they have never, to this day, at any point, 
 dared to present the question of rebellion to the 
 decision of an unfettered popular will. Assuredly 
 this fact has some significance. Assuredly it justi- 
 fies some hope, that when these fetters are broken 
 and the reign of terror ended, it will be found that 
 the breath of life is not wholly crushed out from the 
 patriotism of the South. 
 
 Be that as it may, we have our own work to do. 
 Through the influence of slavery in preparing the 
 mind of the South for the falsehoods and abuses 
 which have been practiced upon it, and through 
 the maddening influence of these abuses, the prin- 
 ciple of State Rights has been severed from the 
 principle of National Unity, and because so severed, 
 has in its excess and perversion produced treason 
 and rebellion, and thus these two principles instead 
 of co-operating in a harmony which would cause 
 each to strengthen the other, are now face to face, 
 at war. 
 
 At open war, now, for the first time, and for the 
 last time. 
 
 For the first time, because He who orders human 
 
38 
 
 events has not permitted this conflict until our na- 
 tional unity has existed long enough to give to that 
 part of the nation which maintains it a deep sense 
 that it is the source and the safeguard of all our pros- 
 perity, and is worth all the price we can pay for it, 
 be that price what it may ; and not until it has also 
 given to that part of the nation a vast superiority 
 of power. 
 
 For the last time, because our just appreciation 
 of the value of that for which Ave fight will insure 
 our bringing to the conflict all the force we possess, 
 and therefore will make it certain that the great 
 principle for which we contend will, in the end, 
 be victorious. 
 
 Through whatever vicissitudes may await us, 
 through successes which will strengthen if they do 
 not deceive us, through reverses which will help us 
 if we learn their lessons, through all the alternations 
 of war, Ave may pass, but, in the end, to victory. 
 
 I am sure that I express but the common senti- 
 ment, the prevailing and habitual sentiment of all 
 around me, Avhen I remind you that in every one of 
 the great exigencies of life, whether public or pri- 
 vate, we may be sure that it comes to teach its 
 lessons and do its good work. And that it is always 
 wise to endeavor to learn these lessons and co- 
 operate with this work. 
 
 One thing Avhich we have to learn from Avhat is 
 
39 
 
 now going on, is the need of a government — the 
 blessing of a government if it be a good one, the 
 inestimable worth of the power we possess to make 
 our government what we would have it, and the duty 
 of every man, in every place, to use every power that 
 he possesses, in making that government what it 
 should be, in placing the powers of government in 
 fitting hands, and in rendering obedience to, and 
 cherishing a reverence and a love for, that authority 
 and that law, which we should make the embodiment 
 and the instrument of the public wisdom and the 
 public virtue. Are we not learning this lesson? 
 
 But there is yet another thing. It is to learn the 
 value of national unity. To fill our hearts with a 
 living and a wakeful sense of the great duty, the ines- 
 timable good of loyalty to our admirable Constitution. 
 Can we be blind and deaf and dead to this great duty? 
 When I ask this question, do I not ask whether we 
 can forget our fathers, whose blood is in our veins ; 
 our children, to whom we shall transmit a life not 
 worth the having, if we suffer this Constitution, our 
 Constitution and their Constitution, to be weakened, 
 disgraced, and broken into fragments ; our God, who 
 has laid on us the trust of leading nations yet unborn 
 along that glorious way upon which our footsteps 
 were the earliest? 
 
 No, this cannot be ; I cannot look at it as pos- 
 sible ; I cannot fear it ; but if I could fear such a 
 
40 
 
 calamity, my fear might spring from the apprehen- 
 sion, not that we can be ultimately defeated, but that 
 as the conflict goes on, in our painful sense of the 
 wrongs inflicted upon us and the wrongs threatened 
 us, in our exasperation at the insults we have to 
 endure, in the fever heat of our anger at the cost 
 and sacrifice and suffering caused by the persistent 
 madness and wickedness we resist, we may forget 
 that our chief aim and purpose, our first and 
 strongest hope, not to be abandoned so long as it 
 can possibly be held, and not to be defeated by our- 
 selves, is to defend and preserve our nationality in 
 its entireness. Are we not fighting for our Consti- 
 tution, fighting for our national existence, fighting to 
 restore, to re-establish, to re-consecrate our Union'? 
 
 It is one of the excellent characteristics of this very 
 Constitution and Government that, while they make 
 all possible provision and organize all necessary 
 strength for all the purposes of government, there 
 is in it no desire, no purpose, no provision, and no 
 place for conquest and subjugation. If ever there 
 was a nation fighting in self-defence, we are that 
 nation now. And there are those who are now most 
 earnest in that cause, not in the North only, but in the 
 South. We at the North, by the outjjouring of our 
 treasure, by organizing our men, and sending them to 
 battle ; and some, at the South, and again I say many, 
 as I hope and believe, by their sympathy, which can- 
 
41 
 
 not be altogether paralyzed, although its voice is now 
 stifled, and by a conviction that we are fighting for 
 them and not against them ; by earnest wishes that 
 we may succeed, and so succeed that we may soon 
 give that voice freedom of utterance, and enable those 
 wishes to spring forth into concerted action. 
 
 Then let us do our work. Let us do it without 
 stay or stint, without one moment's thought of stay 
 or stint, until it is all done. Let us organize and send 
 forth our soldiers until the strong hands that guide 
 our armies can hold no more. Let us pour forth our 
 money until all who arm in our cause are supplied 
 with all possible means of efficiency, of safety, and 
 of comfort. Let us pour forth our very hearts and 
 souls in the combat until that combat ends in victory. 
 The more thoroughly this work is done, the more 
 beneficial it will be to us and to those with whom we 
 are now contending. And let us so do this work, that 
 when it is fully and completely done, when rebellion 
 has, with its last breath, called itself by its true name, 
 and every thought of secession lies buried in a grave 
 from which there can be no resurrection, then our 
 own Massachusetts, as she was the first to spring to 
 the battle, so, when she can sheathe the sword, by 
 which, faithful to her chosen motto,* she has sought 
 for the repose and peace of liberty, then will she be 
 the first to hold forth an unarmed hand to returning 
 
 * Knse potit plai'irtiim sub libprtate quiPtom. 
 G 
 
42 
 
 brethren ; and will cordially invite them to take and 
 hold their full share of all our constitutional rights, 
 and unite with us in forming a great nation, which 
 shall be the home of freedom and the hope of the 
 world. 
 
 \ 
 
APPENDIX. 
 
APPENDIX 
 
 SPEECHES AT THE REVERE HOUSE COLLATION. 
 
 In view of tlie state of tlie country, it was thought wise hy the City 
 Council to dispense with the City Dinner at Faneuil Hall, which had 
 been customary for so many years, and to substitute therefor an informal 
 social gathering at the Revere House. Accordingly, at the conclusion of 
 the Exercises at the Music Hall, the City Council met the Orator of tlie 
 Day, the Chief Marshal, and his Aids and Assistants, the Officers of the 
 Military Escort, and a few other invited guests, at the Revere House, where 
 a collation, well suited to refresh tlie active participants in the celebration 
 after the fatigues of the day, was served. 
 
 After the Collation His Honor the Mayor, Hon. Joseph M. Wightman, 
 claimed the attention of the company, and addressed them as follows : — 
 
 Fellow-citizens : In accordance with long established cus- 
 tom, we are this day commemorating the eighty-fifth anniver- 
 sary of the Independence of the United States of America. We 
 are again listening to the voice of eloquence, to the joyous 
 chimes and merry peals of the bells, and to the loud salvos of 
 the thundering cannons proclaiming another anniversary of 
 our National Birthday ; and if, in the present condition of our 
 country, there is a shadow of anxiety or doubt which throws a 
 cloud over the bright picture of the future, let us take courage 
 and rest our hopes on the wisdom of that Providence which has 
 so far guided and preserved us as a nation. 
 
46 
 
 Let us remember that less than a century has elapsed since 
 this great Eepublic dawned like a star on the verge of the 
 political horizon, with scarcely light enough to penetrate the 
 gloom, or twinkle through the darkness which surrounded it, 
 and that that feeble star, which every cloud seemed destined 
 to obscure forever, has risen hio;her and higher, and o-rown 
 brighter and brighter, until it has become glorious as one in 
 the mighty constellation of civilized nations. What has been 
 the secret of her greatness, the mainspring of her success and 
 power ? The universal intelligence and education of her 
 people. 
 
 History has portrayed the rise, decline, and fall of all the 
 Kepublics in other quarters of the globe, and our country 
 alone has the high privilege to solve this great problem of 
 self-government. Established by the master minds of the 
 Kevolution, — based upon a Constitution of which popular 
 representation and mutual confederation are the sustaining 
 pillars,- are not the benefits we have so long enjoyed under 
 this system so palpable and evident as to receive the homage 
 of an intelligent people ? Do we desire a change ? Do we ask 
 to have that Constitution, in which, as it were, the beauties 
 of the rights of all other nations have been combined in one 
 grand Charter of Liberties, annulled ? No ! A thousand 
 times no ! 
 
 If selfish ambition and disunion assail it, let patriotism, ever 
 warm in the hearts of our citizens, defend it. And in this hour 
 of trial, let us, animated with the spirit of our fathers on this 
 anniversary of their Declaration of Independence, renew the 
 solemn vow to sacrifice on the altar of our country, " our lives 
 and fortunes," and pledge " our sacred honor " to support and 
 sustain tliat Union which has given so proud a position to our 
 
47 
 
 native land. And, fellow-citizens, let our prayer be, that peace 
 may be restored, and that for ages yet to come her glorious 
 title, as " The Great Republic," may be preserved, with no 
 monarch but the sovereign people, with no nobility but mind ; 
 and that it may continue to stand, self-poised and firm, upon 
 the rock of the Constitiition, the wonder and admiration of 
 the world. 
 
 The Mayor's remarks were received with much enthusiasm. Professor 
 Parsons, being toasted as the Orator of the Day, responded in a brief 
 speech. 
 
 The next toast was to the "President of the United States," and Alderman 
 Thomas C. Amory, Jr., being called upon, responded as follows : — 
 
 That, Sir, is a sentiment to which all parties can respond. 
 For though some of us preferred candidates more centrally 
 placed in abode or political opinion, and believed that their 
 election would avert, or at least postpone this controversy until 
 it ceased to be? dangerous, since it has come upon the country, 
 the President, by his prudence, energy, and also by his mod- 
 eration, has gained the confidence of all. Still I feel, that on 
 this occasion another should have been called upon to pay the 
 respect due to our Chief Magistrate, and that had our wonted 
 prosperity admitted of our assembling in our historic hall, and 
 with our usual numbers, that among them would have been 
 found many to do more appropriate justice to the theme than I 
 can. But that sacred edifice is reserved for happier days, or for 
 sterner duties, and assembled here under this roof, the honored 
 name it bears, as also that of the President himself, closely con- 
 nected as they both are with our great revolutionary epoch, 
 remind us that our fitting subject now is the historic past. 
 
 And on this festal celebration of the most important event in 
 
48 
 
 the history of our country, perhaps in the annals of our race 
 to be permitted to participate in the expression of sentiments 
 glowing in every heart, springing spontaneously to every lip, 
 is a privilege which should he dear to every American, and 
 especially in Boston, where we have been accustomed to regard 
 the day as one of peculiar sanctity. Here were sown the seeds 
 of that yearning for equal rights and national independence 
 which culminated in the Declaration, which we this day com- 
 memorate. Here Otis, Quincy, and Warren rocked the cradle 
 of liberty, till, animated by their patriotic ardor, that infant 
 Hercules strangled in his grasp the demons of tyranny and 
 arbitrary power and gaining fresh vigor from another Quincy, 
 and another Otis, and from the soul-stirring eloquence of 
 Webster, Choate, and Everett, developed into maturity, and 
 spanned this mighty continent. Here on this day, have our 
 fathers gathered in their joy and triumph, taken counsel 
 amidst their trials and perplexities, and it is well for us, now 
 that clouds have for a time obscured the brightest political 
 promise ever vouchsafed to a nation, that we. also should come 
 for hope and cheer to these revolutionary altars. 
 
 And what higher privilege have Ave as a people, what 
 stronger cement to bind us together in national fellowship, 
 than the associations of the past which make this day sacred? 
 So long as we continue true to the principles Avhich separated 
 the colonies from the mother country, while we deserve to 
 possess the rich inheritance purchased by the blood and sacri- 
 fices of that glorious struggle, on each annual return of this 
 great natal day of our national existence we shall render hom- 
 age to the fathers of the n^publie, reflect upon their virtues, 
 wreathe new garlands for their fame. And, if Ave may derive 
 a lesson from experience, the future is full of hope. The 
 
49 
 
 fourscore years that have tested the strength and excellence 
 of their political fabric, have but added intensity to our 
 attachment to free institutions, given a warmer glow to our 
 affectionate veneration for their founders, proved that no gov- 
 ernment is more formidable to a foreign foe, better able to 
 vindicate its own authority, than that which we owe to their 
 sagacity and foresight. 
 
 On this great festival, when every heart is swelling with 
 gratiude for the blessings we enjoy, no sectional jealousies, no 
 party contentions should ever be permitted to intrude. Our 
 country — our whole country — from the point that earliest 
 glows with the rising sunbeams to the most distant peak by 
 the Western sea that parts with their setting splendors — from 
 the Northern lakes, aye Sir, even to the Southern gulf, should 
 be alike the object of our love, and all avIio hold allegiance 
 to its flag be equally entitled to affectionate regard. Whatever 
 elements of discord may have part in our political disputes, 
 whatever differences of interest or opinion have engendered 
 animosities and deadly strife, on this Sabbath set apart for 
 the contemplation of our common nationality, that sentiment 
 should alone have place. 
 
 But on this day it especially behooves us to be just. We 
 all realize the elements of grandeur in the character of 
 Washington. We recognize him as rightly flrst in war, in 
 peace, and in the hearts of his countrymen. We would not 
 pluck a leaf from his well earned laurels. All glory to 
 Virginia that gave him to the army of the Revolution. All 
 honor to the men of Massachusetts who, to secure freedom 
 for America, laid aside their own pretensions and preferences 
 to place him at its head. But while we cherish his memory, 
 let us not be indifferent to theirs, or dazzled by the halo 
 7 
 
50. 
 
 that surrounds that beloved and immortal name, be insensible 
 to the claims of our own patriots, who by their sagacious 
 counsels, generous devotion, and effective service, alike contrib- 
 uted to the great result. All praise to the noble spirits who 
 have rescued Mount Vernon from the ravages of time. Let 
 not this generation bear the stain of suffering the abode of 
 Hancock, hallowed by its many memories, to be blotted, 
 without an effort, from the earth. 
 
 When other States and cities raise the votive bronze or 
 marble to Henry and Laurens, to Jefferson, Hamilton, and 
 Greene, let us also remember what we owe to Samuel Adams 
 and Joseph Hawley, to Gerry, the Cushings, and to Paine, 
 Ward, Prescott, and Heath, to Benjamin Lincoln and Henry 
 Knox. It is true, Sir, we have James Otis and John Adams 
 at Mount Auburn and Joseph Warren at Bunker Hill. Other 
 heroes and sages, on the walls of our public edifices, greet us 
 as wc gaze ; but until we have perpetuated their memory by 
 more enduring monuments, our filial labors are but half 
 complete. 
 
 And this, Sir, brings me to the sentiment which I would 
 offer to you now. For on the roll of our distinguished citizens 
 who have made Boston what it is, no name should be more 
 fondly cherished than that of Paul Eevere. It was enough for 
 him to know our chartered liberties, our privileges as British 
 subjects, our natural and inalienable rights as men were treated 
 with contempt by Parliament, the monarch, or his cabinet. He 
 had wisdom to perceive the only alternative, would we continue 
 free, was resistance unto death. And laying aside all private 
 ends and aims, indifferent to the dangers he incurred, through 
 all that gloomy period, when our revolution was a rebellion, 
 not a war, he was ever where his services could be most useful 
 
51 
 
 to the cause. Well known to his fellow-citizens, his probity, 
 manliness, and generous views of right and duty inspired re- 
 spect, and they willingly followed where he chose to lead. If 
 too young and inexperienced to take a prominent part in de- 
 bate, his peculiar influence and chivalric daring were still 
 indispensable to success. But this is not the time for length- 
 ened panegyric, and his fame is too familiar to need such 
 tribute. Eepublics are said to be ungrateful, but if they 
 admit no hereditary claim to power or place, Boston has ever 
 shown herself ready to pay homage to ancestral virtues trans- 
 mitted in the blood. The character of our late honored chief 
 requires, indeed, no reflected lustre, but his devotion to tlie 
 public service, and his Arm hold upon the confidence and love 
 of his fellow-citizens, convince us that the merit of descend- 
 ants is tlie most honorable monument to the memory of tlie 
 distinguished dead. 
 
 I give you. Sir, our late chief magistrate of this city, 
 ex-Mayor Lincoln, the grandson of Paul Revere. 
 
 A toast to the "Chairman of the Committee of Arrangements," brought 
 the following response from Alderman Elisha T. Wilson : — 
 
 I think, Mr. President, that one result of this pleasant, and 
 I trust by no means extravagant celebration of what I deem 
 a somewhat important anniversary, will be, that however 
 some may have differed upon the matter elsewhere, we shall 
 all agi-ee that it is good to be here, — that we shall pass this 
 day with our patriotism strengthened, with our loyal ardor 
 more brightly burning, and with a redoubled devotion to the 
 Constitution, the Union, and the Laws. Whatever may be the 
 disastrous condition of the country, we must not regard the 
 Fourth Day of July as a dark one in our calendar. It was 
 
52 
 
 consecrated, Sir, in more desperate times than these, when 
 skies were blacker and the future more dubious, when we 
 were weak as we are now strong, — when we were poor as 
 we are now rich, — when we were few as we are now many, 
 
 — when we were contending, not against a few disaffected 
 States, but against the power of an empire mighty upon the 
 land, almost invincible upon the sea. 
 
 After that memorable declaration, when all we had was 
 staked upon the wager of battle, I do not know that our 
 fathers disregarded the advice of John Adams, and so neg- 
 lected the observance of this day. Nor was the President of 
 the United States wanting in aflPectionate recognition of its 
 associations, when he summoned Congress to meet to-day in 
 extraordinary session ; and I am sure that when we, the rep- 
 resentatives of this great patriotic metropolis, meet to break 
 bread together upon this glorious day, our purpose will hardly 
 be misunderstood by our intelligent constituents. What, pray 
 Sir, are we to do ? Are we to sit down with fokled hands, and 
 with streaming eyes, and admit that final ruin is upon us? 
 
 — that the Union that we have loved so Avell, is gone forever! 
 that you. Sir, and I, and all of us, have no country to love 
 and to live for ! no government to obey ! no laws to shield 
 us ! nothing between us and anarchy ! No, Sir, we are not 
 in any such humiliating position ! 1 have faith in the power 
 of our good old government to deal simply and surely with 
 crime ; and I have faith in the power of the people to sup- 
 port the government. 
 
 The ordeal, I admit, is terrible — the trial must task all 
 our honor and manliness; but if the Constitution can bear 
 this, as I think it can, then it can bear anything for a thou- 
 sand years to come. Sir, as a nation we must take our 
 
53 
 
 chances, and encounter, as best we may, our political misfor- 
 tunes. I am not aware that we present a very singular 
 spectacle. Eevolutions in the old world have sent monarchs 
 to the scaffold and others into endless exile — the murder of 
 one and the flight of another, and the flight in turn of the 
 citizen king, and the restoration of the Bonaparte family. In 
 my day, I have seen whole empires convulsed by revolution. 
 
 No nation. Sir, has a right to expect perpetual security. 
 Great privileges bring great dangers ; and it is because we 
 have so much to loose, that we cannot q^uietly submit to any 
 loss. Why, Sir, let us restore this Union, if only that we 
 may look each other in the face on the Fourth of July with- 
 out blushing ! Let us preserve this Union, if only that we 
 may consistently keep this ancient anniversary, and our chil- 
 dren after us ! — that we may be reminded of the priceless 
 legacy committed to our charge. 
 
 He concluded with the following sentiment : — 
 
 Our Flag — Though its stars may set, they shall rise again; 
 though its stripes may fade, they shall be repainted ; and 
 those who in a moment of madness have swerved from their 
 fidelity, shall return to join with us in the old reverence and 
 in a new aft'ection. 
 
 Brief speeches, patriotic and felicitous, were afterwards made by Major 
 Newton, the Chief Marshal, and others. 
 
I 
 
 EVENTS OF THE CELEBRATION. 
 
EVENTS OF THE CELEBRATION. 
 
 The followiug- brief summary of the proceedings of the day is embodied in this vol- 
 ume as a permanent record of the manner in whicli tlie celebration was conducted. 
 
 The day opened as usual with the firing of salutes and the ringing of bells, and the 
 first formal event under the auspices of the City Council, was the 
 
 MORNING CONCKKT. 
 
 This occurred on the Common, and was listened to by many thousands of people with 
 the greatest pleasure. Under the direction of Mr. B. A. Burditt, the Brigade, Germania, 
 Hall's, and Flagg's Bands, as one grand musical association, performed the national airs 
 of America and of several of the nations of Europe, the chords of the opening and con- 
 cluding pieces being emphasized by guns of the Light Artillery (Cobb's Battery).' The 
 effect was grand and exalting in the extreme, and as in previous years, the " Morning 
 Concert " was gratifyingly successful. At its conclusion, the vast and constantly 
 augmenting assemblage of people moved to the parade ground of the Common to 
 witness the 
 
 MILITAKY IfEVIEW. 
 
 Before engaging in the escort of the city procession, the three military organizations 
 selected to perform that duty, came upon the Common to be reviewed by the Mayor and 
 City Council. They formed as a regimental line in the following order : The Fourth 
 Battalion of Rifles, (4 companies,) Capt. N. W. Batchelder, commanding, on the right ; 
 the Second Battalion of Infantry, (.3 companies,) Capt. C. O. Rogers, commanding, in 
 tlie centre ; and the Fourth Battalion of Infantry, (2 companies,) Maj. T. G. Stevenson, 
 commanding, on the left; — the whole being under the command of Major Samuel H. 
 Leonard, of the Rifle Battalion. All of these commands being newly uniformed, and all 
 having been recently in garrison for drill, they presented at once a more attractive and 
 more soldierly appearance than any resident military body which had been on parade 
 in the city for many years. The review was in every respect most satisfactory, and 
 immediately upon its conclusion, the Battalions marched to the City Hall to take up 
 the escort ibr the 
 
58 
 
 CITY PROCESSION. 
 
 This was composed of the military escort, the City Council, and the members of its 
 subordinate departments, the invited guests of tlie day, citizens generally, and the Fire 
 Department of the city. The latter paraded the Steam Fire Engines, Hose, and Hook 
 and Ladder carriages, and formed a prominent feature of the procession. The route of 
 march was through Washington and Essex Streets, Harrison Avenue, Dover Street, 
 Shawmut Avenue, Chester Park, Tremont, Boylston, Charles, Beacon, Park, and Winter 
 Streets, to the Music Hall. At the Hall occurred the 
 
 ORATION AND SERVICES. 
 
 The Oration, by Mr. Paksons, was received with great favor, and the other partici- 
 ]>ants in the services performed their appropriate parts of the duties of the occasion with 
 acceptance. The Prayer was by Rev. Mr. Hepworth, and the Reading of the Declaration 
 of Independence by Mr. H. G. Sturtovant. Under Mr. Charles l{\itler's direction the 
 choir of school children, who sang the hymns and patriotic odes prepared for the 
 occasion, acliievcd unusual success, and were cheered with unbounded applause. 
 
 THE CITY REGATTA 
 
 Took place on Charles River, at ten o'clock in the forenoon. It was witnessed by 
 immense crowds of people, and as it jjassed off without accident, and was in other 
 respects equal to any contest of the kind ever witnessed in these waters, the interest 
 manifested iu this branch of the celebration by the City Council was fully rewarded. 
 The prizes (iiruouutiug in all to $0SO) were awarded as follows : — 
 
 For Wherries — Ist, To Joshua Ward, of Newburgh ; 2d, to Thomas Doyle, of Boston. 
 " Double Scull-boats — 1st, To .J. D. Parker, Jr., and W. H. Carpenter, of Boston; 
 
 2d, to J. Biglin, and Josliua Ward, of Newburgh, N. Y. 
 " Four-oared Boats — Ist, To the "Stranger," rowed by Westmau and others, of 
 Poughkeepsie ; 2d, to the "George J. Brown," rowed by X). Leary and others, 
 of New York. 
 " Slx-oarod Boats — 1st, To the " Aniphritritc," rowed by W. Burnett and others, of 
 Boston ; 2d, to the " Fort Hill Boy," rowed by .T. Murray and otliers, of Boston. 
 
 BAI.l.OOX AS(^ENSIONS. 
 
 About live o'clock in the afternoon two large Balloons were sent up from the Common, 
 under the direction of Samuel A. King. Both balloons started on their voyage success- 
 fully, being freighted with several passengers, who were cheered on their way by a vast 
 assemblage of people. Unfortunately the wind was from the southward, and after reach- 
 ing a considerable height the aeronauts, finding that they would be swept seaward, with- 
 out hope of a favoring breeze to waft thom again towards land, opened the escape-valves 
 
59 
 
 of the balloons, and they both fell speedily from their lofty height, one upon the sand at 
 Winthrop Beach, and the other on the sea some miles from shore. The passengers were 
 all safely delivered from whatever peril they encountered. 
 
 THE FIREWORKS, 
 
 More elaborate and patriotic in their design than in any previous year, were success- 
 fully exhibited upon the Common in the evening. No dissent was heard from the 
 opinion that the manufacturers, Messrs. J. G. Edge & Co., achieved much credit for 
 themselves in this closing entertainment of the day. 
 
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