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country. We are not exclusive. We desire that every enjoyment that we possess should be participated in by others; and we enjoy the reputation of our whole country-its renown, and its honor. We may consider ourselves, commercially, as a nation, constantly increasing ; as a sovereign power, growing daily more powerful. We may consider that the national spirit and enterprise are gathering strength with its growth; and, further than that, we may consider that in those mental and intellectual efforts which mark the age, we have made respectable progress. Thirty years ago, it was asked, "Who reads an American book ?" It may now be asked, What intelligent man in all Europe does not read an American book? Who is there? Sam Rogers reads them, Henry Hallam reads them, McCulloch reads them, Lord Mahon reads them, and sometimes finds himself answered when he comments on them. And there is not an intelligent man in all Europe who does not read our American authors, and especially 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 institutions 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. America is no longer undistinguished for letters-for literature. I will not mention those authors of our own day, now living, who have so much attracted the attention of the world by their literary productions.

Gentlemen, a circumstance occurred in the city of

Madrid, which I ought not to forget. There it was that an event took place which raised me to eminence in the literary world, of my position in which I was not previously aware. Under the eye of the ministry, an article appeared in the Madrid Gazette which was intended to be rather complimentary to the Secretary of State of the United States, and which said that he was the most distinguished man of letters in his country; that he was the immortal author of the celebrated dictionary of the English language. I the author of an English dictionary! Shade of Noah Webster! what do you think of such an intrusion upon your rights and your property? Is it said that the Secretary of State was the author of Noah Webster's dictionary of the English language? Why, he could not write the "first spelling book" that Noah Webster produced; and that is true. I am no man of letters, in the literary acceptation of that term. But it has sometimes happened in the course of my official duties, that I have been called upon to write a letter, and that duty I fulfil. We-gentlemen, this is a friendly meeting--we are called upon to meet each other socially in a friendly spirit, to interchange personal regards, and to congratulate one another upon the prosperity and fair prospects of the country. Let us indulge in these agreeable feelings:

"Hence, loathed melancholy;

But come, thou goddess, fair and free,
In Heaven 'yclept Euphrosyne,
And in thy right hand lead with thee
The mountain nymph sweet Liberty-
We'll live with her, we'll live with thee,
In unreproved pleasures free."

7. Gentlemen, the growth of this place is somewhat remarkable. It is very 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 accumulation of wealth--in commerce, the arts, and manufactures-has kept pace with the increase of the population. And now what is Boston? What is the character of Boston ? What are the essential elements of its prosperity? Why, it is unrivalled on the face of the earth, for its important efforts in behalf of, and extensive benefits for its own citizens, and for the improvement 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, amounts to one fourth of the whole tax laid by the city authorities? Where do you find that elsewhere? Where do you find another Boston? Where do you find one quarter of the whole tax paid by individuals, flowing from the public, devoted to education? Nowhere else besides in Boston. And this does not include the amount paid for private schools. The city of Boston pays more than $200,000 a year for the support of religious instruction. Where do you find that elsewhere? Tell me the place, the city, the spot, the country, the world over, where so great an amount, in proportion to the population, 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

to come.

If we rear

But if we

on mind, it enlarges the human intellect, 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 days If we work upon marble, it will perish. If we work upon brass, time will efface it. temples, they will crumble to the dust. work on men's immortal minds--if we imbue them with high principles-with the just fear of God, and of their fellow men--we engrave on those tablets something which no time can efface, and which will brighten and brighten to all eternity. And, my friends, that charity which seeketh not for applause--that charity which endureth all things--beareth all things-hopeth all things-is not more distinguishedly noticed 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 poor, and administer to their welfare--have been great. 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 Boston will be-what Boston has done, and will do-let me say to you, that Boston has given, within the last twenty-five years, between five and six millions of dollars for educational, religious, and charitable purposes, throughout the United States, and throughout the world.

Gentlemen, my heart warms-my blood glows in my veins, when I consider the munificent gifts, grants and provisions made for the purposes of education, for the morals, enlightenment and religious instruction of

the citizens, and for the relief of the poor by the affluence of Boston, and I never consider the subject without having my attention attracted to a venerable citizen now in my eye, Hon. Thomas H. Perkins. Will he, at my request, rise and show his benevolent countenance to the people? God bless him! He is an honor to his city, an honor to his State, and an honor to his country. His memory will be perfumed with the glory of his good deeds, and go down as sweet odor to our children's children.

We

8. Gentlemen, the happiness of mankind is not always in their own control, but something accidental, or, rather, to speak more properly, providential in the condition of things which govern it. We live in an age so infinitely beyond the ages that preceded us, that we consider ourselves now, in this day and generation, as emerging from the dark ages—as 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. cannot remember the past, because we cannot have time to investigate fully the present, or to evolve the future. Gentlemen, when the great Humboldt stood on the mountains of equatorial regions, amidst their gorgeous foliage, their unsurpassed flowers, their genial warmth, and under the brilliant constellations 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 members of the human race who are doomed to live in those melancholy regions, we call the temperate zone!" And so this generation, gentlemen, upraised to this temperate zone,

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