ADDEESS

DELIVERED E7 THE

HON. DANIEL WEBSTEE

FANEUIL HALL,

MAY 22, 18 5 2,

AT THE REaUEST OF THE

CITY COUNCIL OF BOSTON.

BOSTON; 18 52.

4-7

City Document — No, 31.

IDDEESS

DELIVERED BY THE

HON. DANIEL WEBSTEE

FANEUIL HALL,

MAY 22, 1852,

AT THE EEaUBST OF THE

CITY COUNCIL OF BOSTON,

BOSTON: 1852.
J. H. BASTBURN, CITY PRINTER.

CITY OF BOSTON

In Common Council, May 27, 1852.
Ordered, That the recent correspondence between a
Committee of the City Government, and the Hon. Daniel
Webster, together with the interesting address delivered
by him in Faneuil Hall, during his late visit to Boston,
be published, under the direction of the said Commit
tee, for the use of the members of the City Council.
Sent up for concurrence.
HENRY J. GARDNER, President, ^ v.
In Board of Mayor and Aldermen, May 31, 1852. \
Passed in concurrence. ^
BENJAMIN SEAVER, Mayor.

CITY OF BOSTON,

In Common Council, May 6, 1852.
Ordered, That with
such as the Board of Mayor and Aldermen may join,
be a Committee to wait upon the Honorable Daniel
Webster, Secretary of State of the United States, who
is now on a visit to Boston, and to tender to him, in
the name and on behalf of the City Council, an invita
tion to meet and address his fellow-citizens in Faneuil
Hall, at such time before his return to Washington, as
may best suit his convenience.
Passed unanimously.
Messrs. Thompson, Hobart and Plummer were ap
pointed said Committee on the part of this Board ; and
subsequently the President of the Common Council was
added to said Committee.
Sent up for concurrence. HENRY J. GARDNER, President.
In Board of Mayor and Aldermen, May 8, 1852.
Concurred unanimously, and the Mayor, Aldermen
Ober and Rich were joined.
BENJAMIN SEAVER, Mayor

CITY OF BOSTON,

In Board of Mayor and Aldermen, May 13, 1852.
The Committee appointed to wait upon the Honora
ble Daniel Webster, and tender to him the invitation
of the City Council to address his fellow-citizens in
Faneuil Hall during his present visit to our City, yes
terday proceeded to Marshfield to perform the agreeable
duty assigned them, and they are happy to report that
Mr. Webster has accepted the invitation, as will be
seen by the accompanying letter.
He will inform the City Council on what day it will
be convenient for him to be here. Your Committee
therefore recommend, that they be authorized to make
such arrangements as they may deem expedient, for the
purpose of carrying into full effect the wishes of the City
Council, For the Committee.
BENJAMIN SEAVER, Chairman.
In Board of Mayor and Aldermen, May 13, 1852.
Read and accepted. Sent down for concurrence.
BENJAMIN SEAVER, Mayor.
In Common Council, May 13, 1852.
Concurred. HENRY J. GARDNER, President.

Marshfield, May 12th, 1852.
To Hon. Benjamin Seavbr, Mayor of Boston.
Messrs. Ober and Rich,
Members of the Board of Aldermen.
Hon. Henry J. Gardner, the President, and
Messrs. Hobart, Plummer, and Thompson,
Members of the Common Council.
Gentlemen, I receive you here to-day, as friends and fellow-
citizens, members of that community, in the midst of
which I have lived for the greater part of my life,
which I have regarded as my home, and which home,
has been rendered happy to me, by all the endearments
of domestic affections, the warmth of social relations,
and that mutual respect and kindness, which constitute
the unbought grace of life. And you come. Gentlemen,
to confer upon me an honor, which it is quite impossi
ble for me altogether to decline. Of course, Gentlemen,
I consider this honor, as intended entirely for a manifes
tation of personal respect and kindness ; and it touches
my feelings the more tenderly, as it proceeds from
the unanimous votes, of all the members of the two
branches of the City Government, without reference to
political or party' distinctions. You invite me to come
among you, as one of your fellow-citizens, not unknown
to you, through a course of many years, and I shall go,
with warm regard and a grateful heart, into the midst
of the citizens of Boston, many of whom I know, and

with the fathers of many of whom, when life was
younger, I lived in habits of daily intercourse.
Perhaps it is unnecessary for me to say. Gentlemen,
but it is a point upon which I deem that no misappre
hension should exist, that neither the source of the
kind invitation thus presented to me, nor the state of
things, now existing in the country, will allow me to
enter upon the discussion of any political questions or
subjects, whatever. The pleasure afforded to me by the
occasion, will be that of being once more in the univer
sally acknowledged Cradle of American Liberty, to be
hold again those images of immortal Revolutionary
Patriots, which adorn the walls of Faneuil Hall, and
to see the faces of prosperous, happy and patriotic fel
low-citizens ; and their gratification, if they shall expe
rience any, will be to know, that I come among them
with unabated friendship and attachment, that I regard
the place of their birth and residence, with as warm a
heart, as beats in any of their own bosoms, and that I
regard myself as numbered among them, for good or
for evil, so long, as anything, good or evil, may happen
to me from human associations.
I am Gentlemen,
With the highest personal regard.
Your obedient servant,
DANIEL WEBSTER.

The Mayor, as Chairman of the Committee of Arrangements,
having announced to the citizens of Boston, through the public
press, that the expected Address would be delivered on Saturday,
the 22d of May, Faneuil Hall was densely filled at an early hour
on that day, by a most attentive audience, among whom were
many ladies, and also a large delegation from the Methodist Qen-
eral Conference, which body were invited by the Mayor to listen
to Mr. Webster on this occasion.
The Report of Mr. Webster's Address here printed, is that
prepared for the Boston Daily Advertiser, by Mr. Charles Hale,
with Mr. Webster's revisions.

Mayor Seaver, in introducing Mr. Webster, spoke as
follows : —
Fellow-Citizens, — I shall not presume to occupy any
more of the time of this meeting than is necessary for a
proper introduction to its proceedings.
We have assembled in this Cradle of American
Liberty to meet an honored fellow-citizen, one whom
we always delight to see and to hear. This is the
appropriate place to meet him — these walls have often
resounded with his patriotic eloquence — the echoes of
his voice still linger upon our ear, but we wish them to
be waked once more, that our veneration for Washing
ton and our love for the Union may be strengthened by
his words of wisdom and warning.
I am happy, fellow-citizens, to say, that the circum
stances, under which we meet our honored and distin
guished friend, are fortunate and peculiar — he comes
hither by the unanimous invitation of the members of
both branches of the city government, without distinc
tion of party, to exchange with us the kind congratula
tions and warm sympathies of the heart. Party consid
erations may well give place to the higher and better
feelings which belong to this occasion.
Sir — No more agreeable duty can ever devolve upon
me than that of now welcoming you, in behalf of the
city government and the citizens of Boston, within these
hallowed walls. We welcome you, to borrow your own
words, we welcome you, " as a friend and member of that
community, in the midst of which you have lived for the
greater part of your life, which you regard as your

home, and which home has been rendered happy to you
by all the endearments of domestic affections, the warmth
of social relations, and that mutual respect and kind
ness which constitute the unbought grace of life." Yon
have said that you should not, on this occasion, enter
upon the discussion of any political questions or sub
jects whatever. This, I am authorized to say, is in ac
cordance with the feelings of your fellow-citizens. We
receive you here. Sir, on a platform much broader than
any which politicians or political parties could frame.
We welcome you as a friend whom we. value, as a fel
low-citizen whom we honor, and who has done honor to
us, as a consistent champion, and supporter of constitu
tional liberty and the rights of man.
We reciprocate all the kind and fraternal sentiments
so fully and so beautifully expressed in your letter accept
ing our invitation, and ardently wish that your life and
health may long be spared, so that our city and our
common country may continue to enjoy the benefit of
your wisdom, patriotism, and eloquence.
Fellow-citizens — We are also honored on this occa
sion, with the presence of many distinguished strangers
from distant parts of the Union, representing one of the
most respectable and influential religious denominations
of our country, now assembled in a convention for the
promotion of their common interests. We welcome
them to our city and to this hall, and assure them that
there is no community which holds more firmly to the
conviction that religious faith is the only foundation for
civil liberty. And now, fellow-citizens, my duty is per
formed, not as I could wish, but as I have been able,
and it only remains for me to announce to the meeting,
our esteemed friend and townsman, the Hon. Daniel
Webster.

10

Mr. Webstes replied to the address of the Mayor as
follows :
Mr. Mayor and Gentlemen of the City Council of
Boston :
I tender you my hearty thanks, my deep-felt grati
tude, for this unexpected expression of your regard
towards me, as one of your fellow-citizens ; and I thank
you, particularly, Mr. Mayor, an old and constant friend
of mine, for the kind manner in which you have been
pleased to express your own sentiments toward me on
this occasion.
And now, fellow-citizens of Boston, by the good pro
vidence of God, I am here amongst you once more. I
am glad to see every face that illumes and is illumin
ed in this assembly. This occasion is altogether
agreeable. I left the place of my appropriate public
duties, at the approach of summer, to visit my home,
and to see to personal affairs which demanded attention,
I came with no purpose or expectation of addressing
popular assemblies, or of meeting any mass of my fel
low-citizens. But I have been arrested in my journey,
by the vote of the City Council of Boston, inviting me
with a unanimity, which affects my feelings deeply, to
meet my fellow-citizens here, not as a public man, but
as a private man • not as one who exercises any share
of the public authority, but as one of themselves : as
one who has passed the greater part of his life in the

11
midst of them, enjoying their association and acquaint
ance, and cultivating their regard.
Gentlemen, I have come here to-day to speak upon no
political question, nor to discuss any thing growing out
of the present state of opinion in the community about
which men differ. In the first place, fellow-citizens, I
abstain from all such topics because this is not a fit oc
casion. This, I take it, is a friendly, social, personal,
neighborly meeting, and not one assembled for political
purposes. And you will allow me to say, in the next
place, that, if this were a fit occasion for me to express
political sentiments, I have no new opinions to express,
no new political character to assume. [Loud cheering.]
What I think upon important pending topics has been
so often spoken and written by me, with full heart and
honest purpose, within the last two years, that nothing
remains to be said. And what also are my opinions
upon the general policy of the country, foreign and do
mestic, I need not now repeat. I say to you to-day that
I have nothing to add and nothing to retract. I have
neither explanation nor qualification to offer. I pro
pose to' you, and to my fellow-citizens throughout the
country, no platform but the platform of my life and
character. [Cheers.] I have no new promises to make,
and no assurance to give but the assurance of my repu
tation. I am known ; what I have been and what I
am is known, and upon that knowledge I stand to-day,
with my countrymen, and before my countrymen ; and
the rest is theirs. [Cheers.]
Nevertheless, gentlemen, although it be not an occa
sion for the public discussion of controverted questions,
it is an occasion on which we may feel where we are,
and what are our relations to each other and to the
country. This is Faneuil Hall — open. [laughter
and applause.] The ornaments on its walls are pic-

12

tures of the great and immortal founders of our Repub
lic. No man with a proper regard for the past, with
proper feelings for the present, with just aspiration
for the future — no man can stand in Faneuil Hall, sur
rounded by these images of our ancestors, these por
traits of revolutionary characters, without reflecting
that he is on a spot consecrated by early associations,
ennobled by early efforts for liberty, and the history of
which is to be transmitted to all posterity by durable
records. Gentlemen, here we are, in what we justly call the
Cradle of American Liberty ; here we are in the place
which gave birth to the great events, military and civil,
with which the revolution of our country commenced ;
and in all time past, and in the present time, and until
the love of liberty is extinguished in future generations,
this place will be held in the most affectionate remem
brance. Fellow-citizens, I hope it may not be irreverent for
me to say, that, as the Jews in the days of their cap*
tivity in Babylon were wont to offer prayers to God
daily, with their faces turned always toward Jerusalem,
so the patriotic and ingenuous youth of this and suc
ceeding generations who wish to learn and to know the
true origin of the independence of the country, and its
early achievements in the cause of liberty, who wish to
imbibe into their own hearts the fulness of the spirit of
that liberty, will keep their attention turned constantly
to this spot, whence issued the light which in 1775
illuminated a continent. [Cheers.]
But, gentlemen and fellow-citizens, not to pursue
even these general remarks too far, I turn to other to
pics, more suitable to the occasion. The path of poHtics
is a thorny path. [Laughter.] It is delightful some
times to turn aside from it, and to walk along, over the

13
velvet verdure of a gentle vale, flushed with all the
flowers and enriched with all the fruits of personal
friendship and social regard. It is for one of these
walks that we meet to-day, leaving the rough road of
disputatious politics, and walking over no frozen and
no burning marl, but among glades of pleasant recollec
tions of the past and grateful enjoyment of the present.
Gentlemen, we cannot shut our eyes, and the intelli
gent part of mankind does not shut its eyes, to the ex
traordinary degree of prosperity to which this country
has risen under the present popular form of govern
ment ; and of that prosperity the nature of that- govern
ment is the true secret. There may be some things
which we might wish were better, many which might
be worse. But, on the whole, where does the sun,
from its rising to its setting, throw its beams upon a
people more prosperous, more happy, more growing in
reputation and renown, than these States of United
America 1
Now, gentlemen, whence do these blessings flow"?
Whence comes all the prosperity we enjoy 1 How is
it, that, on this whole continent, from the frozen zone
to Cape Horn, there is no people like that of the United
States ; no people which can show a growth like theirs ;
no Government or people that can stand up before the
world like the Government and people of the United
States, and present themselves boldly and fearlessly to
¦the respect, aye, and even to the admiration, of all na
tions ? How is this 1 In my opinion, gentlemen, all,
or a great part, of our prosperity is to be referred to our
¦early acquaintance with the principles of regulated, con
stitutional, popular liberty, and our early adoption of
these principles in the establishment of the republican
form of government. The Tory writers of England,
whose aim, as you well know, gentlemen, it has gener-

14

ally been to show that the people are best governed
when they have little or no share in the Government,
maintain that those above can govern those below bet
ter than those below can govern themselves, and that
government, as such, has little to do with the essential
elements of individual happiness. That is not our
theory. We hold that there is nothing above, and
nothing below ; that all stand on an equality ; each en
joys his part of the public prosperity and suffers his
portion of the public adversity ; each at the same time
bearing his part and exercising his appropriate portion
in the political concerns of his country. Dr. Johnson,
one of the writers of this school,, says :
" How small, of all that hnmati hearts endure,
The part that kings or laws can cause or cure !"
Now, the truth is, that kings and laws can cause or
cure most evils belonging to social or individual life ;
they can establish despotism ; they can restrain political
opinion ; they can prevent men from expressing their
free thoughts ; they can deny the exercise of religious
liberty ; kings and laws can impose intolerably burden
some taxes ; they can exclude the masses from all par
ticipation in the Government ; they can bring about a
state of things under which the public good and the
public liberties will be destroyed and trodden down by
military power ; they can obstruct the progress of edu
cation and knowledge; they can render men servile
serfs, indeed almost brutes, quatuor pedibus exceptis;
and they can darken, blind, and almost extinguish the
intellectual element of humanity. Is not this much?
Are not these great evils ] Who does not feel that the
political institutions of his country, according as they
are good or evil, are the main sources of his happiness
or misery 1 It is true, it is very true, that a man's con
dition may depend in many respects on personal circum-

15
stances ; on his health, or on the state of his family, on
his means for living, and for the education of his chil
dren ; but his fortune, good or evil, is influenced deeply,
mainly, and essentially by the laws of his country.
And that, I take it, is the great solution of the question,
now no longer a matter of doubt, but heretofore a ques
tion subsisting all over Europe — the true nature of the
happiness and prosperity of the people, of the United
States. But I say to you, and to our whole country,
and to all the crowned heads and aristocratic powers
and feudal systems of this world, that it is to enlightened
self-government — the great principle of popular repre
sentation and administration, the system that lets in all
to participate in the counsels that are i to assign the
good or evil of all- — that we owe what we are, and what
we hope to be. [Cheers.]
Why, gentlemen, who does not see this 1 Who sup
poses that any thing but the independence of the coun
try would have made us what we are 1 Suppose that
mother England had treated us with the utmost indul
gence, that the counsels most favorable to the colonies
had prevailed, that we had been made a spoiled child, I
say to you as I have said before, and shall continue to say
till the time of my death, that it is not in the nature of
any colonial system of government to raise a country and
raise a nation to the highest pitch of prosperity and re
spectability. It is independence ; self-government ; the
liberty of the people to make laws for themselves, that
has elevated us from the subdued feeling of colonial
subjection and placed us where we are. It is inde
pendence :
" Hail, independence ! hail thon next best gift
To that of life and an immortal soul !"
Gentlemen, I have said that our blessings grow essen
tially from our form of Government, from the satisfaction

16

of the people with that form, and their desire to help on
the general progress of the country. There is no true
American who does not rejoice in the general welfare,
and partake in it ; who does not take delight, day and
night, in reflecting that our progress is onward, that the
people grow more happy, and more and more enlight
ened, successful, and renowned every day. This is a
source of individual happiness to every honest American
heart. Whatever his condition may be ; however for
tunate or unfortunate ; in whatever circumstances of
elevation or depression he may find himself, he still par
takes of the general prosperity of the country. [Cheers.]
He has, in short, a dividend, (if I may use a commercial
expression) he has a dividend, payable not quarterly but
daily, out of the fund of general happiness which the
country enjoys.
And now, let me ask, on what portions of the globe,
in how many regions that men call civilized, does the
same thing exist % There are undoubtedly some other
nations in which the people feel the same individual in
terest in the proceedings of government, but there are
few. And take nations as a whole ; look over the con
tinent of Europe, and among the many millions who
constitute the subjects of its arbitrary governments, how
many feel that their own individual happiness and re
spectability are objects of the care and kindness of the
authority which is over them '\ Does not the mass con
tent itself with the hope that the government may cease
to be so oppressive on their industry, so burthensome
with taxation, and so full of restraint on their personal
liberty % How many arbitrary sovereigns care mainly
about the individual prosperity of their subjects, and,
instead of considering the means by which their Gov
ernment may become an important rival to another and
be able to maintain a contest, by standing armies and

17
heavy taxation, concern themselves solicitously for the
interests of those that are governed, who pay for the
gorgeous appendages of military power, and the means
and appliances of despotism 1
The truth is, that the general theory of politics, which
has sprung out of the feudal system, has mainly been to
strengthen Governments as against one another; to
make one throne a match for other thrones ; and to this
end to maintain armies and navies by severe and op
pressive taxation on the people. The theory of the feu
dal system is that of rival and hostile governments as
between nations, and as between government and peo
ple, that of leader and dependant — and the better in
struction or greater elevation of the masses in their
character as men, never entered into its notions.
Compare our condition with theirs. Why, there are
more men in the United States, I had almost said, at
tached to their Government, loving their Government,
feeling keenly every thing that tends to the disparage
ment of their Government, alive to every thing that
conduces to the interest of their country, and rejoicing
that they live in it, than you can find on ten thousand
millions of acres among nations called civilized in the
old world, but living under arbitrary sway.
Now, gentlemen, we are all Bostonians. We live
here on this little peninsula— little in territory, not
little in intelligence ; circumscribed in acres, not cir
cumscribed by any limited boundary in the respect of
the civilized world. But we, Bostonians, live here and
partake of the general prosperity of our country. We
are not exclusive. We desire that every enjoyment
that we ourselves possess, should be participated in by
others ; and we enjoy the reputation of our whole coun
try, its renown, and its honor.
We may consider ourselves commercially as a nation

18

constantly increasing, as a sovereign community, grow
ing daily more powerful. We see that the national
spirit and enterprise are gathering strength with its
growth ; and further than that, we are sure that in those
mental and intellectual efforts, which mark the age, we
have made respectable progress, and at the present mo
ment are not without distinction.
Thirty years ago it was asked, " Who reads an Amer
ican book]" It may now be asked, "What intelligent
man in all Europe does not read American books 1 "
[Applause.] Samuel Rogers reads them. Henry Hal-
lam reads them. Macauley reads them. McCuUoch
reads them. Lord Mahon reads them, and sometimes
finds himself answered when he comments on them.
[Laughter.] And there is not an intelligent man in
England who does not read American authors, and es
pecially our legal and historical works. And in France,
Thiers and Guizot read them, and throughout the vast
population of France there is no doubt that there is a
greater devotion paid to the study of our popular insti
tutions, to the principles- which have raised us to the
point at which we now stand, than there is paid to the
monarchical institutions and principles of government
of every other part of Europe, and all the books de
fending them. America is no longer unknown for sci
ence or for literature. I will not mention the authors
of our own day, now living, who have so much at
tracted the attention of the world by their literary pro
ductions, especially in the department of historical
composition. Rather a curious incident happened lately in which
my name had nearly become enrolled with those of men
of letters ; for there is of course no end to blunders.
There appeared an article in the Royal Gazette of
Madrid, intended to be civil to the American Secretary
of State, in which he was declared to be the author of

19
that great and illustrious production, known and hon
ored in most countries as Webster's Dictionary of the
English Language. Ye shades of Noah Webster ! How
will you not be offended at this intrusion on your rights
and your repose. " He make my dictionary ! " he will
exclaim ; " he never could have made my spelling
book ! " And this would be true. I must beg leave
therefore, to disclaim the compliment of the Royal
Court Gazette of Madrid, and decline to be classed with
men of letters. In the literary sense of that phrase, I
certainly am no man of letters ; although, when official
duties require it, it is true that I have sometimes written
a letter. [Laughter and applause.]
Well, gentlemen, this is a friendly meeting. We as
semble socially, in a friendly spirit, to interchange per
sonal regards, and to congratulate one another upon
the prosperity and fair prospects of the country. Let
us enjoy, both with cheerfulness and gratitude, the
blessings which Providence has poured out around us — '
" Hence, loathed melancholy !
But come thou, Goddess fair and free,
In Heaven ycleped Euphrosyne.
And in thy right hand lead with thee
The mountain nymph, sweet Liberty.
We'll live with her and live with thee
In unreproved pleasure free."
Gentlemen, the growth of this city is remarkable, and
in any other country would be most remarkable. I
came here to take my residence among you in the year
1816. The population of Boston was then 40,000. It
is now 140,000. And its increase in wealth, in com
merce, the arts and manufactures, has kept pace with
the increase of the population.
And now what is Boston I What is the character of
Boston % What are the essential elements of her pros-

20

perity ? Why, she is nearly unrivalled on the face of
the earth for her important efforts in behalf of and
extensive benefits for her own citizens, and for the im
provement of mankind. What will you say, which
perhaps you all know, when you are informed that the
amount of public taxes in this city, for the purpose of
education alone, is equal to one-quarter of the whole
tax laid by the public authorities 1 Where do you find
that elsewhere 1 Where do you find another Boston
in this respect 1 Where do you find one-quarter of the
whole tax, paid by individuals, flowing from the public,
devoted to education, in addition to the very great
amounts paid to the teachers of private schools ] No
where else that I know of
The city of Boston pays more than ^200,000 a year
for the support of religious instruction and public wor
ship. Where do you find that elsewhere 1 Tell me
the place, the city, the spot, the country, the world over,
where so great an amount in proportion to the popula
tion is paid for religious instruction. That is Boston.
This principle which we inherited from our ancestors,
we cultivate. We seek to educate the people. We seek
to improve men's moral and religious condition. In
short, we seek to work upon mind as well as on matter.
And in working on mind, it enlarges the human intel
lect and the human heart. We know when we work
upon materials immortal and imperishable, that they
will bear the impress which we place upon them through
endless ages to come. If we work upon marble, it will
perish ; if we work on brass, time will efface it. If we
rear temples, they will crumble to dust. But if we
work on men's immortal minds, if we impress on them
high principles, the just fear of God and love for their
fellow-men, we engrave on those tablets something,
which no time can efface, and which will brighten and
brighten to all eternity.

21
And, my friends, that charity which seeketh not her
own, that charity which endureth all things, beareth all
things, hopeth all things, is not more conspicuously ex
hibited in any part of the globe than among our own
people. The personal attendance on the poor, the
bounties of all those who have the means to promote the
happiness of the necessitous, and administer to their
welfare, are just themes of praise. And above all that,
let me say, and let it be known to those who wish to
know what Boston has been, what Boston is, what Bos
ton Avill be, what Boston has done and will do, let me
say to those that Boston has given within the last
twenty-five years between five and six millions of dol
lars for educational, religious, and charitable purposes
throughout the United States, and throughout the world.
[Cheers.] Gentlemen, my heart warms, my blood quickens in
my veins, when I reflect upon the munificent gifts,
grants, and provisions made for the purpose of educa
tion, for the morals, enlightenment, and religious in
struction of the citizens, and for the relief of the poor,
by the afiiuence of Boston. And I never think of all
this without having my attention attracted to a venera
ble gentleman now near me, Hon. Thomas H. Perkins.
[Col. Perkins occupied a seat upon the platform.
Three cheers were given for him.] Will he at my re
quest, rise and show his benevolent countenance to this
crowd of his fellow-citizens ¦? [Col. Perkins arose and
received three more hearty rounds of applause.] God
bless him ! He is an honor to his city, an honor to his
State, alid an honor to his country. His memory will
be perfumed by his benevolent actions, and go down as
sweet odor to our children's children.
Gentlemen, the happiness of mankind is not always
in their own control; but something accidental, or

22

rather, to speak more properly, providential, in the
course of things, governs it. We live in an age so infi
nitely beyond the ages that preceded us, that we can
consider ourselves now, in this our day and generation,
as emerging from the dark ages, and just getting into
the light. We begin to see where we are. We begin
to see a new world. A new rush of ideas comes over
us. Gentlemen, when the great Humboldt stood on the
mountains of the lofty equatorial regions, amidst their
gorgeous forests and foliage, their unsurpassed flowers,
their genial warmth, and under the brilliant constella
tions of the South, his heart burst out in an effusion of
sympathy towards the inhabitants of the other parts of
the earth. " How unhappy," said he, " are those mem
bers of the human race who are doomed to live in those
melancholy regions which we call the temperate zones ! "
And so this generation, gentlemen, upraised from the
temperate zones of former times, and culminating at the
recently-attained and elevated tops of present knowledge
and science, looks back with some indifference upon the
history of past times. We think them torpid, unin
formed, and unenterprising ; and well may we think
them so, comparatively, in the effulgence of the splendid
light of science, skill, invention, enterprise, and knowl
edge which has burst upon our times.
Gentlemen, Mr. Locke says that time is measured by
the passage of ideas through men's minds. If that be
so, we live a great while in a few revolutions of the
earth around the sun. If new ideas, new thoughts,
new contemplations, new hopes, constitute life, why
then we have lived much, whether we have lived many
or few years, according as they are usually estimated.
The age is remarkable. New thoughts press, and new
inventions crowd upon us. We used to say, prover-

23
bially, that a thing was done as quick as thought ; but
that is a lingering mode of expression now-a-days. A
great many things are done much quicker than some
men think. Thought cannot keep up with electricity.
While we are talking, the thoughts cannot travel as
fast as electricity can give them to the world. While I
am now speaking, the word which last left my Hps has
already been seized by lightning, and, before I can utter
a few sentences more, will be read not only in New
York and Washington, but also in Savannah, New Or
leans, Cincinnati, and St. Louis ; and my words will all
be read with some interest, not because they are mine,
but because they proceed from Faneuil Hall, from
which place all know that, in important periods of the
past, no voice was heard but that of determined, reso
lute, national patriotism. [Cheers.]
So, gentlemen, we live much, though our years may
be few. For my part, I hardly envy the patriarchs for
the many years of their lives. They neither saw as
much nor enjoyed as much as we see and enjoy. In
truth, I do not think very highly of the felicity of Me
thuselah's longevity.
Fellow-Citizens, let us be grateful for all our bless
ings, and perform our duties cheerfully and readily, as
men, as patriots, and as Christians.
We all feel that we have a country, not Boston alone,
nor Massachusetts alone, but composed and bound up
by that vast union of independent States, which are
united under a common Constitution. The inhabitants
of these States are all fellow-citizens, and he is narrow
in his prejudices and his politics who would reject any
of those citizens from the great American brotherhood.
We see here, to-day, delegate members froln one of
the greatest Christian denominations in the United
States, coming from the North probably, certainly from

24
the South and West, and who is not glad to see them ?
[Applause.] They come as friends; and who would
wish to see them in any other capacity ] And as for
myself, gentlemen, I say to them, I bid you welcome.
[The members of the Methodist Conference now rose in
a body.] I bid you welcome to Faneuil Hall, the birth
place of American liberty. Welcome to Boston, the
seat of commerce, enterprise, and literature. Welcome
to Massachusetts, the home of public education. We
welcome you for your many Christian virtues, and for
the good you have accomplished in this country and
abroad. In the course of ray life I have not been an
uninterested reader of your history. I know something
of Charles Wesley. Dying at a great age, shortly after
our independence was secured, these were his last
words : " The workmen die, but the work goes on !"
[Cheers.] The workmen who framed the institutions
and the constitution of our country have passed away,
but their work lives after them. Those same institu
tions and that same constitution have been upheld by
us, and I trust will be sustained by our children forever.
Although the workmen may die, yet may the work go
on, I have read, many years since, the biography of John
Wesley, an extraordinary person, the great founder and
apostle of the Society, who died, I think, in 1791, at the
advanced age of 83 years. His last words were, " The
best of all is, that God is with us." Those sentiments
have been wonderfully illustrated in the subsequent
history of Methodism, of which Southey said so strongly
that it was " religion in earnest."
Now, gentlemen, we must not prolong this occasion
further. My friend Mr. Hillard has lately quoted an
extract from some stanzas, written long ago, and which
I remember from my youth, although I had not remem-

25
bered their authorship. These may properly be referred
to on the present occasion. One line is —
" Solid men of Boston, make no long orations."
This I take to myself, and am bound to obey the injunc
tion. The concomitant line falls in remarkably with
the prevailing spirit of these times and the occurrences
of to-day. " Solid men of Boston, drink no strong potations."
Let us all give heed to these admonitions. [Laughter.]
But now, gentlemen we cannot scan the future. To
some degree the past may interpret it ; but in its whole
length it lies far beyond our vision. We must commit
ourselves and our country to the hands of Providence.
We may indulge hopes, high and exalted hopes, humbly
and meekly before God, but confidently and fearlessly
before men, that the prosperity and happiness which
we of this generation enjoy will descend to our latest
posterity with ten thousand times the brilliancy of yon
der setting sun !
At the conclusion of Mr, Webster's speech his
Honor Mayor Seaver proposed nine cheers for the
Hon. Daniel Webster, which were enthusiastically and
heartily given. The delivery of the speech occupied a
little more than an hour.

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