upon it in vain! It will stand secure and unharmed, a lamp to our feet and a lantern to our path through all the accidents of life, and will conduct us in safety to the haven where we would be hereafter.

Let us, then, cherish every institution like this, for giving the Gospel to the poor, and for implanting its precious seeds in the youthful mind; and let the best sympathy of our hearts, and the best succor of our hands, be with those who are engaged in so noble a work. For myself, I feel it a privilege to be here this evening. I thank my friends, the Directors of the Association, for the honor they have conferred upon me in calling me to the chair; and I once more express my most earnest wishes for the continued success and prosperity of this Institution.

THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION.

A SPEECH DELIVERED AT THE ANNUAL CITY DINNER IN FANEUIL HALL, JULY 4, 1851.

[In reply to the following toast:-" The Past Members of Congress" — Boston is justly proud of the list of those of the illustrious dead and of the respected and honored living who have represented her interests in the National Councils-may their enlarged patriotism and devotion to the Constitution be the guiding principles which shall ever animate their successors."]

I COULD not find it in my heart, Mr. Mayor," to decline the kind request of your committee that I would be present here to-day and say a few words in reply to the sentiment which has just been proposed. I am greatly honored by being designated to respond to such a sentiment, and by thus being authorized to appropriate to myself some humble share of the compliment which it contains. It has been my fortune to serve the people of Boston, in the Congress of the United States, for a longer period, I believe, than any one who has represented them since the adoption of the Constitution. I do not forget, however, by whom I have been preceded. I do not forget that upon the list of my respected and illustrious predecessors, to which you have alluded, are contained the names of Otis and Eustis and Ames, among the dead; of Quincy and Gorham and Lawrence and Webster, among the living. As I remember these and other names, I am deeply sensible of my own deficiencies, both comparative and positive. But while I freely confess myself inferior to all who have preceded or followed me, in the ability and success of my services, I do not yield to any of them, either among the dead or the living, in the warmth of my attachment * Hon. John P. Bigelow in the Chair.

upon it in vain! It will stand secure and unharmed, a lamp to our feet and a lantern to our path through all the accidents of life, and will conduct us in safety to the haven where we would be hereafter.

Let us, then, cherish every institution like this, for giving the Gospel to the poor, and for implanting its precious seeds in the youthful mind; and let the best sympathy of our hearts, and the best succor of our hands, be with those who are engaged in so noble a work. For myself, I feel it a privilege to be here this evening. I thank my friends, the Directors of the Association, for the honor they have conferred upon me in calling me to the chair; and I once more express my most earnest wishes for the continued success and prosperity of this Institution.

THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION.

A SPEECH DELIVERED AT THE ANNUAL CITY DINNER IN FANEUIL HALL, JULY 4, 1851.

[In reply to the following toast: — "The Past Members of Congress" - Boston is justly proud of the list of those of the illustrious dead and of the respected and honored living who have represented her interests in the National Councils-may their enlarged patriotism and devotion to the Constitution be the guiding principles which shall ever animate their successors."]

I COULD not find it in my heart, Mr. Mayor," to decline the kind request of your committee that I would be present here to-day and say a few words in reply to the sentiment which has just been proposed. I am greatly honored by being designated to respond to such a sentiment, and by thus being authorized to appropriate to myself some humble share of the compliment which it contains. It has been my fortune to serve the people of Boston, in the Congress of the United States, for a longer period, I believe, than any one who has represented them since the adoption of the Constitution. I do not forget, however, by whom I have been preceded. I do not forget that upon the list of my respected and illustrious predecessors, to which you have alluded, are contained the names of Otis and Eustis and Ames, among the dead; of Quincy and Gorham and Lawrence and Webster, among the living. As I remember these and other names, I am deeply sensible of my own deficiencies, both comparative and positive. But while I freely confess myself inferior to all who have preceded or followed me, in the ability and success of my services, I do not yield to any of them, either among the dead or the living, in the warmth of my attachment

* Hon. John P. Bigelow in the Chair.

to my country and its institutions, in the earnestness of my efforts to advance the interests of my constituents, or in the sincerity of my desire to promote harmony, conciliation, and concord among the whole American people.

And now, fellow-citizens, I know not how to thank you for this cordial and flattering reception. I am here, as you know, with no title to consideration save such as may result from a public career which has recently been brought to a close. After sixteen or seventeen years of official employment, in different branches of the State and National Legislatures, I am once more in the rank and file of private citizenship. My place in the procession and at the table to-day is among the Exes. An ex-member of the General Court, an ex-member of Congress, an ex-Speaker, an ex-Senator,* I am an ex-every thing, excepting only and always that, which, thank Heaven, no party combinations and no personal prejudices can ever prevent me from being, -a Boston boy, a Massachusetts man, a citizen of the United States, an American freeman, -with a heart full of gratitude to those to whose unmerited favor I owe whatever honor I have enjoyed, and full of love and loyalty also to the Constitution and the Union of that native country in whose councils I have so long served.

Let me add that I am content with my position; and it will be owing to no effort, solicitation, or desire of my own, if it shall ever be changed. There is, in my judgment, quite as much of truth, as there is of wit, in the saying of a distinguished Virginia politician on some occasion, that, in the alphabet of a true philosophy, the X's are at least next door to the Y's, (wise.) I will not say that "the post of honor is a private station;" but I will say—and you, Mr. Mayor will know how to agree with me— that the post of personal comfort, of true satisfaction, and of inward peace, is not always a public one. Certainly, fellowcitizens, you will all give me credit for realizing at this hour, that if a termination of my Congressional career had secured

* An unexampled Coalition between the Democrats and Free-Soilers, in the Legislature of Massachusetts, by which the State and National Offices at their disposal were made the subject of a formal negotiation and barter, had brought Mr. Winthrop's service in the United States Senate to a close on the 7th of February, 1851. Agreeably to the provisions of the contract, Mr. Rantoul was made Senator for the remnant of the short term, and Mr. Charles Sumner for the long one.