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 RE-DEDICATION 
 
 
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 OLD STATE HOUSE, 
 
 BOSTON. 
 
 JULY llTH, 1883. 
 
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 © 4^*74 I'l^T^'J'ED BY ORDER OF THE CITY COITXCIL 
 '^A,<^of^ 1882. 
 
RE-DEDICATION 
 
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 OLD STATE HOUSE, 
 
 BOSTON. 
 
 JULY IlTH, 1882. 
 
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THE 
 
 EE-DEDICATION OF THE OLD STATE HOUSE. 
 
 The five-years' lease of the Old State House expired July 
 1, 1881. In anticipation of that event it was suggested that 
 the historic interest of the building was so oi'eat that it miofht 
 be desirable to retain the control of, at least, the upper part 
 floor of the building for public uses, and to restore the whole 
 edifice to the appearance it w^ore a century ago. The City 
 Council, after considerable discussion, voted to appropriate 
 the sum of thirty-five thousand dollars for repairs on the 
 building, putting the charge, as usual, in the hands of the 
 Committee on Public Buildings, of which Alderman William 
 Woolley was chairman in 1881 and 1882. 
 
 The work proved greater than was anticipated ; l)ut on 
 June 29, 1882, the committee Avas al)le to announce the sub- 
 stantial completion of their labors (see City Doc. 100), and 
 to invite the City Council to attend at the formal transfer of 
 the building to His Honor the Mayor, on Tuesday, July 11. 
 Accordingly, on the forenoon of that day, the following pro- 
 ceedings took place, which are now published by order of 
 the City Council. 
 
 The ceremonies were held in the East Hall, occupied in 
 colonial times by the Governor and Council, afterwards l)y 
 
4 OLD STATE HOUSE RE-DEDICATION. 
 
 the State Senate, and from 1830 to 1840 by the Board of 
 Akiermen. Portraits of the old governors, Winthrop, 
 Endicott, Bellingham, and Burnet, were kindl}^ loaned for 
 the occasion, by direction of Hon. Rol^ert R. Bishop, Presi- 
 dent of the Senate. The Massachusetts Historical Society 
 loaned portraits of Governors Belcher, Joseph Dudley, and 
 Hutchinson. The Pul)lic Lil)rary contributed a caricature 
 of Governor Gage, and engravings of Governors Pownall 
 and Andros also hung upon the walls. 
 
 In the West Hall, formerly occupied by the House of 
 Representatives, and later by the Common Council, were the 
 super!) portraits of Samuel Adams and John Hancock, 
 owned l)y the city, and Stuart's portrait of Josiah Quincy, 
 Jr., the patriot. Other interesting pictures and engravings 
 adorned the various rooms. The orator of the day delivered 
 his address from the Speaker s desk used in the old House of 
 Representatives, and now owned by the Massachusetts His- 
 torical Society. 
 
 Owing to the unavoidal)le alisence of Alderman Woolley, ' 
 chairman of the connnittee, the assemblao-e Avas called to 
 order by Alderman Hersey, who. spoke as follows : — 
 
 Mr. Mayor, Oentlemen of the City Council, Ladies 
 and Oentlemen: — 
 
 You are assembled here to-day to. receive the 
 report of the committee to whom was assigned the 
 duty of renovating and restoring the Old State 
 House. The work is completed, of which you have 
 
OLD STATE HOUSE RE-DEDICATION. 5 
 
 the evidence before you, and I am happy to say it 
 has been done within the estimates and appropria- 
 tion. 
 
 The work of restoration has not been accom- 
 plished except by much expenditure of time and 
 thought in delving among old documents for evi- 
 dences of what the building was in its early days; 
 and it presents to-day, both as its to exterior 
 and interior, sul3stantially the same appearance that 
 it did in those early days of its history when the 
 noble men, whose portraits look down upon us here, 
 walked these streets, and to the gathered citizens 
 within these historic walls spoke the patriotic words 
 of counsel that incited them to deeds of nolile daring 
 in defence of national liberty, and made this country 
 a free republic. 
 
 It would seem proper that in dedicating this build- 
 ing to purposes akin to those for which it was 
 originally designed, we should seek the Divine favor. 
 I therefore will request the Rev. Dr. Rufus Ellis, 
 pastor of the First Church, to ask a blessing. It 
 would seem appropriate and fitting that he, the pas- 
 tor of the church which in its early days was located 
 in this immediate vicinity, should thus officiate. You 
 will please give your attention while the Rev. Dr. 
 Ellis asks a blessing. 
 
G OLD STATE HOUSE RE-DEDJCATION. 
 
 PRAYER BY RUEUS ELLIS, D.D. 
 
 O God of our fathers, our dwelling-place in all 
 generations, we tliank Thee for our goodly heritage. 
 !N^ot without Thee would we come together. Obedi- 
 ent to Thy voice do we remember the days of old. 
 It is our desire and prayer that by these renewals and 
 restorations we may so strengthen the things that 
 remain, and so bind together our best and most 
 precious hopes, and our dearest memories, that we 
 shall grow thereby in all sweet humanities, and our 
 city be, indeed, as a city set upon a hill whose light 
 cannot be hid, whose light shall shine in praise and 
 works that are just and merciful. 
 
 We pray Thee that this ancient house may he for- 
 ever a common possession, a common joy, and a 
 common pride of all those whose homes and places 
 of daily toil are centred al^out it, and may it be a 
 memorial to them that they are citizens of no mean 
 city. So may the Lord keep the city; so may its 
 walls be salvation and its gates praise; and so for the 
 abundance of righteousness and love within its l)or- 
 ders may all the walls that are builded by human 
 hands be consecrated, and may this be to us at last, 
 in the brighter and better and holier days, that city 
 of our God, of which it is written, I saw no temple 
 therein: and for the light that shines upon all and 
 
OLD STATE HOUSE KE-DEDICATION. 7. 
 
 upon the house may there be nothing uncommon or 
 unclean. 
 
 "VYe pray this prayer unto Thee iu His name who 
 bids us I'ender unto Csesar the things which are 
 Caesar's and unto God the things which are God's, 
 and, in the words which He hath taught us, may we 
 with one heart and one voice say unto Thee : Our 
 Father which art in heaven, hallowed be Thy name. 
 Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done on earth as it 
 is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread, and 
 forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those that 
 trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation ; 
 but deliver us from evil. For thine is the kingdom, 
 and the power, and the glory, forever and ever. 
 Amen. 
 
 Alderman Heesey. — Ladies and gentlemen, 
 perhaps to one member of the city government 
 more than all others is due the credit of whatever 
 success has attended the restoration of this building. 
 I allude to that member whose duty and pleasure it 
 will be to address you on this occasion. It gives 
 me great pleasure to introduce to you William 
 H. Whitmore, member of the Common Council 
 from Ward 12. 
 
OLD STATE HOUSE RE-DEDICATION. 
 
 ADDRESS OF WILLIAM H. WHITMORE, ESQ. 
 
 Felloio-inemhers of the City Council: — 
 
 We are gathered here to-day to re-dedicate a build- 
 ing already hallowed by the patriotic contests of 
 previous generations. We are to strengthen a link 
 in that chain of our history which connects those who 
 resisted the despotism of the Stuarts with those who 
 rebelled against the misgovernment of the mother 
 country, and again with those who so lately fought 
 for the preservation of the unity of the iiation. We 
 are to remember that we are henceforth the custo- 
 dians not only of Faneuil Hall and the Old South, so 
 universally known at the present day, but also of 
 that older and still more revered spot, which, after a 
 temporary neglect and decay, is now to stand pre- 
 eminent among all the buildings in the land. 
 
 I will endeavor to set forth, within a reasonable 
 compass, the claims of the Old State House to be the 
 s])ot most intimately associated with the history of 
 liberty in this Commonwealth, and the right of the 
 present building to assume to be, not the representa- 
 tive of departed glories, but their actual and existing 
 monument, — never obliterated, never changed in any 
 
10 OLD STATE HOUSE RE-DEDICATION. 
 
 essential degree, — as fit to-day as it was a century 
 ago to be the glorious theatre of immortal events. 
 
 "When our forefathers established this town they 
 found that ISTature had apparently marked this spot 
 for a centre of the new settlement. A little projec- 
 tion, of which our State street is the ridge, divided 
 the coves lying north and south. The land reached 
 then as far as Kilby street on the one side, and 
 Merchants' Row on the other. On the north the 
 Town Dock, now covered by Quincy Market and 
 even by streets farther inland, reached to the slopes 
 of Copp's Hill. On the south a cove, occupying 
 Liberty square and its vicinity, severed Fort Hill 
 from a])proach, except on the line of Franklin street. 
 Directly in the range of this point the lofty height 
 of Beacon Hill towered above the narrow plain, 
 through which Washington street and Court street 
 were to be stretched. Along the banks of these 
 coves, and in the low lands between the three hills of 
 Trimont, the houses of the little settlement were soon 
 closely clustered. 
 
 Here, on the site since occupied by Bi'azier's build- 
 ing, was placed the first meeting-house, wherein 
 from the beginning the townsmen met to consult 
 also upon temporal afiairs. 
 
 In front of the meeting-house was a lot set apart 
 for a market-place as early as 1634, and definitely 
 
OLD STATE HOUSE RE-DEDICATION. H 
 
 recognized as such in the Book of Possessions in 
 164:5. It was, as it now is, the land enclosed by the 
 two arms of the street, and its dimensions have never 
 been lessened. On the southerly side of State street 
 Capt. Robert Keayne lived, on the corner of our 
 Washington street, with two neighbors between him 
 and the meeting-house, while Elder Leverett and 
 two others owned the- remaining lots. On the north 
 side of State street John Cogan had built the first 
 shop in Boston, on the corner of Washington street; 
 and down the street were the lots of Rev. John 
 Wilson and seven others. Opposite, on Washington 
 street, John Leverett lived on the corner, with Rich- 
 ard Parker south and west. 
 
 Such were the first surroundings of this site, until, 
 in 1640, the meeting-house, ' • being decayed and too 
 small," was sold, and a new one was built on the site 
 since occupied by Joy's Building. In the meeting- 
 house "the general and great quarter courts are 
 kept," wrote Lechford in 1610. That is to say, our 
 incipient Legislature and primitive courts of law 
 were there held; as, of necessity, must have been con- 
 vened all town meetings. At that time there were 
 about two hundred and fifty householders in Boston, 
 representing a population of some fifteen hundred 
 persons. 
 
 For more than a quarter of a century from the set- 
 
12 OLD STATE HOUSE RE-DEDICATION. 
 
 tlement of the town this provision was sufficient. 
 But in 1();')(5 Capt. Keayne died, and his will proved 
 that for years he had been devising benefits for his 
 fellow-townsmen. Keayne was one of the founders 
 of the Ancient and Honorable Artillery Company. 
 His controversy, in 1642, with Mrs. Sherman, about a 
 stray pig-, had brought the two houses of the 
 magistrates and deputies to such disputes that they 
 had resolved to sit in different chambers.' He was 
 a merchant, and had been severely disciplined by 
 the church for trying to make a profit on his vent- 
 ures beyond the amount which the clergy .thought 
 proper.' We need not suspect Capt. Keayne of 
 extortion, for theologians of that date had hardly 
 escaped from the belief that all interest Avas usury 
 and all profit a l)reacli of Christian charity. Our 
 merchant, however, submitted to discipline, and was 
 restored to popular favor, being elected to the Legis- 
 lature, and otherwise employed by the town. For 
 three years iDefore his death he had been writing 
 with his own hand that enormous will of one hun- 
 dred and fifty-eight folio pages, now preserved on 
 our probate records, by which he disposed of 
 some four thousand pounds, — an enormous fortune 
 in those days. Writing laboriously and care- 
 fully, evidently desiring that his money should 
 
 'Winthrop, ii., 160. '-^ Winthrop, i., 315. 
 
OLD STATE HOUSE RE-DEDICATION. 13 
 
 be wisely expended, Keayne planned various ways 
 of aiding his fellow-townsmen. One-half of his 
 estate went to his son, the other to pnblic uses. 
 Three hundred pounds was for the Town-house ; one 
 hundred for the granary ; fifty to the free school ; fifty 
 to the poor of his church; one hundred to Harvard 
 College; somewhat to the Artillery Company; many 
 legacies to relatives, friends, and servants, — a 
 whimsical, generous, pathetic will, full of a desire to 
 do good according to the ])est of his light. 
 
 But the town of Boston was to receive one gift 
 which would endure even to this day. Three hun- 
 dred pounds were to be laid out in l^uilding a conduit 
 and a market-place, " with some convenient room or 
 two for the Courts to meet in both in summer and 
 winter, and so for the Townsmen and Commissioners 
 in the same building or the like, and a convenient 
 room for a library, and a gallery, or some other hand- 
 some room for the elders to meet in; also a room for 
 an armory." There was to be a room for merchants, 
 masters of ships, and strangers, as well as townsfolk. 
 All this, with much repetition and amendment, is set 
 forth in the will; and the main part endured. 
 
 In February, 1656-7, the Selectmen began to take 
 action respecting the legac}^, and at the town-meet- 
 ing in March, 1657, " Capt [Thomas] Savage, Mr 
 [Anthony] Stoddard, Mr [Jeremy] Ilouchin and 
 
14 OLD STATE HOUSE EE-DEDICATION 
 
 Mr Ed [ward] Hutchinson" were chosen a committee 
 " to consider of the modell of the towne house to bee 
 built, as concerning the charge thereof, and the most 
 convenient place; as also to take the subscriptions 
 of the inhabitants to propagate such a building; and 
 seasonably to make report to a publick townes 
 meeting." Keayne had suggested Mr. [Thomas] 
 Broughton and Mr. [John] Clarke, the cliirurgeon, 
 as good persons to devise a plan; but these others 
 were trusted citizens. 
 
 Exactly when the first Town-house was completed 
 and occupied does not appear by the records. 
 
 May 19, 1658, the General Court passed the fol- 
 lowing order (Rec, iv., p. 327) : — 
 
 " In answer to the request of the Select men of Boston, the court 
 judgeth it meet to allow unto Boston, for and towards the charges 
 of their town house, Boston's proportion of one single country rate 
 for this year ensuing, provided that sufficient rooms in the said 
 house shall be forever free, for the keeping of all Courts, and also 
 that the place underneath shall be free for all inhabitants in this 
 jurisdiction to make use of as a market for ever, without payment 
 of an}' toll or tribute whatsoever." 
 
 The Selectmen of Boston voted March 28, 1659, 
 that no one shoukl smoke or bring a fire or match 
 under or about the Town-house except in case of 
 military exercise; so that the building was probably 
 then ready. 
 
OLD STATE HOUSE RE-DEDICATION. 15 
 
 Feb. 28, 1660-61, a settlement was ordered with 
 Thomas Joy and partner " for the bnilding of the 
 towne-house stayre cases and Conduit " by paying 
 therefor six hundred and eighty pounds, deducting 
 what had been paid. 
 
 Oct, 9, 1667, the Legislature ordered '^ the neces- 
 sary full and suitable repair of the Town and Court 
 House in Boston, founded dy the late Captain Rohert 
 Keayne,^^ one-half of the expense to be paid by the 
 country, one-quarter by the county of Suffolk, one- 
 quarter by the toAvii of Boston. May 31, 1671, they 
 ordered on the same terms, " by a firm whole wall to 
 the bottom of the braces, with brick or stone to re- 
 pair the Court or Town House, so that all inconven- 
 iences by rotting the timbers &c. be prevented." 
 
 The form of this first Town-house is, of course, a 
 matter of conjecture. Josselyn, who was here in 
 1663, says, in his account printed three years later, 
 that there is in Boston " a Town House built upon 
 pillars, where the Merchants may confer; in the 
 Chambers above, they keep thei rmonthly Courts." 
 
 John Dunton, in 1686, merely repeats the same 
 words. From items in the town records it seems 
 that Richard Taylor hired the shop under the stairs 
 at the west end of the Town-house in 1661, and in 
 1669 he obtained an extension of his term for sixty- 
 one years. In 1666 Kobert (Til)bs obtained a lease 
 
16 OLD STATE HOUSE RE-DEDICATION. 
 
 of the cellar under the Town-house; and in 1664 
 Thomas Lake and Hezeldah Usher seem to have 
 been in possession of the east end of the cellar. In 
 1678 Samuel Shrimpton bought out Lake's interest 
 from his widow, and obtained an extension of the 
 lease for thirty-nine years. 
 
 We may therefore safely assume that the building 
 was raised on pillars, Avith a flight of steps at each 
 end, the lower floor partly partitioned off for shops, 
 leaving a large space for the daily exchange. As 
 early as 1664 a l^ell was ordered to be rung at 
 eleven o'clock every working day, to give notice of 
 the assembling there for one hour of merchants, 
 strangers, and inhabitants. In 1683 it was voted 
 " that a note set up under the Town House upon one 
 of the pillars, concerning the price of wheat, shall be 
 sufficient notice to the bakers to size their bread by, 
 according to law." 
 
 Upstairs there would be, of necessity, two rooms, 
 one for the Governor and Council, the other for the 
 Representatives, l^aturally there would be also some 
 anterooms; and we cannot doubt that even the first 
 building covered about all the groilnd in the present 
 lot. In fact, the French map by Franquelin, made in 
 1693, shows the space occupied by the Town-house 
 to be as large as the present ground. 
 
 Sewall records (Diary, i., 458), that on September 
 
OLD STATE HOUSE EE-DEI)ICATION. 17 
 
 8, 1697, " the Governour and Council first meet in the 
 Council Chamber, as it is now fitted with ceiling, 
 Glazing, Painting, new Floor that brings it to a 
 Level ; ]S^ew Hearth even with it." This meeting was 
 made noteworthy by the announcement by Col. 
 Pierce that limestone had been discovered at IN^ew- 
 bury, — a matter of the highest importance, as, up to 
 that time, the colonists had been obliged to burn 
 oyster-shells for lime. 
 
 The other portions of Keayne's plans did not prove 
 so permanent. In 1(384 and in 1695 mention is made 
 of the Town's Library ; but it was perhaps lost in 
 the fire, 1711. As to his conduit we know that it 
 failed in some twelve years. 
 
 It was doubtless to be constructed in imitation of 
 the structures then common in England. '' They 
 are a kind of stone cage or cap, under cover of 
 which the conduit pipe rises to the top and then lets 
 down its stream; sometimes openly (the cap ])eing 
 a cage), sometimes unseen, to a reservoir near the 
 bottom.'" The waste- Avater was allowed to escape 
 by paved gutters, or otherwise to seek the earth. 
 Doubtless Caj^tain Keayne ex])ected to utilize the 
 springs near his house as a siipply of water for daily 
 use, and "^'especially in case of fire." But such open 
 
 ' Prof. William Everett has kindly furnisluul the above description from 
 his observation. 
 
18 OLD STATE HOUSE RE-DEDICATION. 
 
 streams were unsiiited to this climate; and that feat- 
 ure of Enghsh towns could not be imitated here. 
 In March, 1(372, it was voted that, as the work " by the 
 Providence of God hath not proved so useful as was 
 expected and desired," Ijy an agreement with the 
 overseers of Keayne's will, "liberty was given to 
 Nicholas Page to take away the bricks belonging 
 to the conduit, and to fill the place even with the 
 ground." 
 
 The first building stood from 1(358 to 1711, when 
 it was l)urned in a terrible conflagration. In it pre- 
 sided Governors Endicott, Bellingham, Leverett, and 
 Bradstreet, under the old charter ; Andros, under the 
 orders of King James ; and Phips, Stoughton, Bello- 
 mont, and Joseph Dudley under the new charter. 
 Through many perils — from Indian foes, from 
 English tyranny, and from domestic treachery — the 
 settlement steadily increased in population and 
 wealth during these fifty-three years. It is estimated 
 by Shattuck that the poj^ulation of Boston was, in 
 A.D. 1680, four thousand five hundred persons; in 
 A.D. 1690, seven thousand persons; in A.D. 1700, 
 six thousand seven hundred persons ; in A.D. 1710, 
 nine thousand persons. 
 
 At one time, indeed, in 1689, this Town-house was 
 the centre of a revolution. In April of that year 
 the colonists, inspired by the news that William of 
 
OLD STATE HOUSE RE-DEDICATION. 19 
 
 Orange had landed in England, took the desperate 
 resolve to rebel against King James and his gov- 
 ernor here. It was a rash venture; but it succeeded. 
 Within the previous year Andros, a veteran soldier 
 of large experience, had constructed on the neighbor- 
 ing height a fortification, which gave its name to 
 Fort Hill. He had ro^^al troops under his command, 
 and a man-of-war was anchored off the shore. But 
 the leaders of the people assembled at the Town- 
 house in Boston, supported by the bold and resolute 
 freemen of the colony, and in a single day the royal 
 authority was overthrowm. It should be forever 
 remembered that, although a like success in England 
 at the same time secured the immunity of these Bos- 
 tonians, still the actors were then ignorant of that 
 event, and for at least a month they were open and 
 avowed rebels. JSTor can it be doubted that the 
 whole course of our history was immensely influ- 
 enced by the fact that, when William and Mary 
 ascended the throne, they found the colony of Massa- 
 chusetts so far distinguished from other colonies as 
 to have fought independently for its rights. This 
 old Town-house was the first shrine of hberty; and 
 every subsequent act can be clearly shown to be the 
 natural and logical consequence of that first uprising 
 of a free people. 
 
 As the centre of the town, this old hall must have 
 
20 OI^D STATE HOUSE KE-DEDICATION. 
 
 witnessed many stirring scenes. Thus we find it 
 recorded that on May 14, 1692, Sir William Phips 
 arrived, the first governor under the Second or Pro- 
 vincial Charter. Sewall writes (Diary, i., 360), " Sir 
 William arrives in the IN'onsuch Frigat: Candles are 
 lighted before he gets into Town-house. Eight 
 Companies wait on Him to his house, and then on 
 Mr. Mather to his. Made no volleys because 'twas 
 Satterday night.'' " Monday May 16. Eight Com- 
 panies and two from Charlestown guard Sir William 
 and his Councillors to the Town-house Avhere the 
 Commissions are read and Oaths taken.'' Boston, at 
 this date, had not far from one thousand houses and 
 seven thousand inhabitants (Palfrey, iv., 136) ; but at 
 the election of a representative in May, 1698, when 
 there was a spirited contest, only three hundred and 
 eighteen votes were cast. (Sewall, i., 480.) 
 
 Phips's administration lasted only two years and a 
 half, and is forever darkened l^y the shadow of the 
 witchcraft delusion and its judicial murders. 
 
 Happily for us, none of the sentences were pro- 
 nounced in Boston; though at the last court held 
 here one Mary Watkins, a servant, despite the 
 verdict of the jury, was imprisoned by order of the 
 Court, and sold into bondage in Yirginia. (Drake, 
 Hist., 503). Hutchinson (Hist., ii., 61) relates that 
 Dame Mar}^ Phips, the governor's wife, was ap- 
 
OLD STATE HOUSE RE-DEDICATION. 21 
 
 plied to in behalf of a woman held for ti'ial for 
 witchcraft. 
 
 " The good lady, lyroprid, virtate, gi'anted and 
 signed a warrant for the woman's discharge, which 
 was obeyed by the keeper, and the Avoinan lives still 
 for anght I know." It is f[iir to conclude that the 
 docmnent was in the usual form, and was taken 
 from the official papers in the governor's chamber. 
 We may safely infer that in this building the first 
 female governor exercised her riglits, and we may 
 rejoice that the usnrpation was for the glorious pre- 
 rogative of pardon. 
 
 From November, 1694:, to June, 1702, the govern- 
 ment was mainly in the hands of Lient. Governor 
 Stoughton, though for a year the Earl of Bellomont 
 was the nominal governor. Jnst before the arrival 
 of Bellomont news Avas received of the rejection 
 of several of onr laws by the home government. 
 Sewall (i., 4:96) thns describes the scene: "Drum is 
 beat and Allowance and Disallowance of the Acts is 
 published. Lieutenant Grovernor [Stoughton] and 
 Council standing in the Gallery. Great many 
 Auditors below." 
 
 Another day of excitement in the old building 
 must have been that one in July, 1699, when Captain 
 William Xidd was examined by Lord Bellomont and 
 his Council, charged with many notorious piracies. 
 
22 OLD STATE HOUSE RE-DEDICATION. 
 
 Kesearch, which destroys so many ilhisions, shows 
 us that the noted ph-ate was far from being so 
 wicked or so bloodthirsty as fame reported, and 
 certainly reveals a strong infusion of poltroonery in 
 his character. The muse, however, promptly re- 
 corded of him, — 
 
 " My name was William Kidd, 
 
 As I sailed, as I sailed, 
 And most wickedly I did. 
 As I sailed." 
 
 As an evidence of the various uses to Avhich the 
 building was put, we find that in 1701, ^' because of 
 the Rain and Mist," the election of captain of the 
 Ancient and Honorable Artillery Company was held 
 in the To^^^l-house, when the choice fell upon Judge 
 Sewall. They callVl down the Council out of the 
 Chamber and set their chairs below: Col. Pynchon 
 
 gave the Staves and Ensign Drew 
 
 out before Mr. Usher's, gave three volleys ; drew 
 into the Town-House again." Then Rev. Mr. Pem- 
 berton prayed, and the company escorted their 
 coimnander safely home. So again in 1702, " rainy 
 day, we exercise on the Town-house in the Morn." 
 
 On May 28, 1702, news arrived at Boston of the 
 death of King William. 
 
 " And at last the Gazette containing the Proclaim- 
 ing of the Queen came to hand. Then we resolved 
 
OLD STATE HOUSE RE-DEDICATION. 23 
 
 to proclaim her Majesty here, llegiment drawn up, 
 and Life-Guard of Horse ; Council, Representatives, 
 Ministers, Justices, Gentlemen, taken within the 
 Guard. Mr. Secretary, on foot, read the order of 
 the Council, the Proclamation and Queen's Procla- 
 mation for continuing' Commissions. Mr. Sheriff 
 Gookin gave it to the people. Volleys. Guns. 
 Went into chamber to drink." (Sewall, ii., 56.) 
 
 June 1, 1703. ■' Town-meeting is held in the old 
 Meeting-house because of the General Assembl}^; 
 2 p.m. Voters tw^o hundred and six." This entry of 
 Sewall confirms our suspicion that the Legislature 
 had the first claim to occupy the building. In March, 
 1706-7, the records show that the town meeting was 
 held in the old meeting-house. 
 
 In 1704 Captain John Quelch and five other 
 pirates were tried here, and sentenced to be hung. 
 The sentence was executed June 30. Sewall gives 
 us at this time the following picture : — 
 
 " As the Governor [Dudley] sat at the Council- 
 Table 'tw^as told him Madam Paige [his niece] was 
 dead. He clap'd his hands, and quickly went out, 
 and returned not to the Chaml^er again ; but ordered 
 Mr. Secretary to proi'ogue the Court till the 16th of 
 August, which Mr. Secretary did by going into the 
 House of Deputies." (Sewall, ii., 109.) 
 
 Sewall records on February 6, 1707-8 : — 
 
24 OLD STATE HOUSE RE-DEDICATION. 
 
 " Queen's Birthday. I could not find it in my heart 
 to go to the Town-house, because hardly anything is 
 professedly there done but drinking Healths." 
 
 1708-9, January 6. " Presently after Lecture, the 
 Act of Parliament regulating Coin is published by 
 Beat of Drum and Sound of Trumpet." (Sewall, ii., 
 248.) Undoubtedly from the balcony of the Council 
 Chamber. 
 
 March 13, 1709-10. " General Town Meeting. Mr. 
 Cotton Mather went to Prayer ; I stood in the Lobby, 
 then went into the Council Chamber. Constable 
 
 came to me and surprised me with telling me 
 
 that I was Chosen Moderator. I went in, and they 
 would have me sit on the Seat, which I did." (Sewall 
 ii., 275.) 
 
 From this entry it seems that the town meetings 
 were held in the Pepresentatives' Hall, which could 
 well hold the citizens, as the votei's only numbered 
 about two hundred. Other entries make it probable 
 that the Supreme Court also used that room, the 
 Council Chamber serving as a consultation room 
 for the judges. 
 
 In 1711 the town was much agitated by the 
 arrival of some fifteen men-of-war and seven thou- 
 sand troops destined for an attack on Quebec. 
 There were abundant festivities and solemn ex- 
 change of courtesies between the English and our 
 
OLD STATE HOUSE RE-DEDICATION. 25 
 
 local authorities. The ignominious failure of the ex- 
 pedition was a sad l)low to Massachusetts, ahhough 
 the loss of life was confined mainly to the ships of 
 the British portion of the fleet. 
 
 To add to the general depression, a great fire in 
 Boston occurred " ahout 7 or 8 o'clock of the iiio-ht 
 between the 2d and .'kl of October." " It broke out 
 in an old Tenement within a l)ack Yard in Cornhill 
 {I.e., our Washington street) , near the First Meeting- 
 house, occasioned by the carelessness of a poor 
 Scottish Woman (one Mary Morse) , by using Fire 
 near a parcel of Ocum, Chips, and other combustible 
 Rubbish.-' This spot was in or near Williams' 
 Court. ''All the houses on lioth sides of Cornhill 
 [Washington street] from School street to what 
 is called the stone-shop in Dock-square, all the 
 upper part of King street [State street] on the south 
 and north side, together with the Town-House, and 
 what was called the Old Meeting-House above 
 it, were consumed to ashes." (Hutchinson, ii., 
 200.) 
 
 Thus ended, after half a century's use, the first 
 Town-house which has stood on this spot. Of 
 course it was necessary to replace it at once ; and on 
 the 17th of October the Selectmen of Boston ad- 
 dressed the Legislature, asking its " Advice and 
 Direction foi- the Restoring and Rebuilding of the 
 
26 OLD STATE HOUSE RE-DEDICATION. 
 
 House for those Publick Uses, and about the place 
 where to set the same." 
 
 A joint committee of four councillors and seven 
 deputies, with Elisha Hutchinson, chairman, was at 
 once appointed, who recommend that a new house 
 he built " in or near where the Old Town House 
 stood," the " breadth not to exceed thirty-six feet, the 
 length so as to be convenient." " The charge to be 
 borne the one half by the Province, the other half by 
 the Town of Boston and County of Suflblk in equal 
 Proportion." 
 
 Accordingly, a new committee was appointed, viz. : 
 Elisha Hutchinson and Penn Townsend, councillors, 
 Addington Davenport, Samuel Thaxter and Capt. 
 Phipps, deputies, to attend to the affair, with two 
 persons to he added by the town of Boston. The 
 town assented, and joined Thomas Brattle and 
 William Payne. 
 
 March 12, 1711-12, the Legislature voted, as 
 instructions to the committee, that the building be 
 not more than one hundred and twelve feet nor less 
 than one hundred and ten feet in length. ^N^ovember 
 17, 1712, they voted, as instructions to the committee, 
 " that they fit the East Chamber for the Use of His 
 Excellency the Governor and the Honorable the 
 Council, the Middle Chamber for the House, the 
 West Chamber for the Superior and Inferior Courts." 
 
OLD STATE HOUSE RE-UEDICATION. 27 
 
 And '"^ that there be but two Officers below Stairs in 
 the Province and Court House now Buildinu' in 
 Boston, one for the Secretary, the other for the Reg- 
 ister of Deeds in the County of Suftblk." 
 
 Althoug-h we do not know who designed the brick 
 buikling which speedily arose on the site, we can 
 to-day inspect its sturdy walls and recognise tlie 
 influence of the Queen Anne period. It is beyond 
 controversy that the fire of 174:7 and the various 
 changes which have been made in the building, in 
 no way affected the exterior Walls. We are to-day 
 assembled in a building which dates back to A.D. 
 1713, and we can form a correct idea of its original 
 and ever continuing appearance. 
 
 In 1720 Daniel ^N'eal printed his " Present State 
 of 'New England," and thus describes the building in 
 its earliest days : — 
 
 " From the Head of the Peer you go up the chief Street of the 
 Town, at the ujtper End of which is the Town House or Exchange ; 
 a fine Piece of Building, containing besides the Walk for the 
 Merchants, the Council Chamber, the House of Commons, and 
 another spacious Room for the Sessions of the Courts of Justice, 
 the Exchange is surrounded witli Booksellers Shops, which have a 
 good Trade." (Neal, p. 587.) 
 
 In 1708 it was computed that Boston had twelve 
 or thirteen thousand inhabitants; in 1720, eighteen or 
 
28 OLD STATE HOUSE EE-DEDICATION. 
 
 twenty thousand. (]N"eal, GOl.) The council con- 
 sisted of twenty-eight members, the House of one 
 hundred and three. (JS^eal, 605.) 
 
 Durins: the eig-hteen months which were needed 
 for rel^uilding the Town-house, the town meetings 
 were held as follows: ^ov. 16, 1711, in Rev. Mr. 
 Cohnan's meeting-house in Brattle street; March, 
 1712, in the same; March, 1712-13, at the -south 
 meeting-house, and May 13, 1713, in the new Town- 
 house. Sewall records (ii., 387), May 28, 1713. 
 
 "All the Councillors are sworn except Major 
 Brown, who was not in Town. In the afternoon 
 I declar'd to the Council that Prayer had been too 
 much neglected formerly; we were now in a 'New 
 House, we ought to Reform; without it, I would 
 not be there. Mr. Secretary assented, and I was 
 desired to see it eftected. May 29th. Dr. Increase 
 Mather prays Excellently in the Council." 
 
 For some years at least this custom of beginning 
 a session of the council with prayer was con- 
 tinued. 
 
 It seems from ScAvalFs notes that there was a large 
 table in the council chamber, at which the members 
 sat, and that the Governor occupied the head of it. 
 It is a fair inference that this table reached from the 
 east window towards the door, and if so it was in 
 conformity to our ^N'ew England custom by which the 
 
OLD STATE HOUSE RE-DEDICATION. 29 
 
 minister or other presiding otRcer is so invariably 
 placed in front of a window. 
 
 To this council chamber the deputies were sum- 
 moned, and committees of that body were here re- 
 ceived. At such conferences the Governor was not 
 allowed to take part, thoug-h on one occasion at least 
 he remained in the room. There was a "closet," 
 prol)ably one of the ante-rooms opening from the 
 chamljer, to which the Governor could withdraw for 
 private consultation; and perhaps the other ante- 
 room was needed for the accommodations of the 
 twenty-eight councillors. 
 
 It seems that in this chamber the Overseers of Har- 
 vard College met at times, and once the " Inspectors 
 of the Grammar Schools " of Boston met there. The 
 chamber was also used as a consultation room for the 
 judges. ]N^otwithstanding the order to construct a 
 west room for the courts, it is very doubtful if this 
 were really done. In 1717, Sewall speaks of a trial 
 held in the old meeting-house opposite, while sentence 
 was pronounced in the court chamber. Was not this 
 the chamber of the Great and General Court, that is, 
 our House of Representatives? When the fire of 1747 
 took })lace, mention is made of the " Council Cliam- 
 ber, the Chamber of the House of Representatives 
 and the Apartments thereof, in that Story." Another 
 account speaks of "the Council Chamber" and "both 
 
30 OLD STATE HOUSE RE-DEDICATION. 
 
 the Lobbies," and also the " Offices kept m the Upper 
 Story; " Init it says " the County Records and Papers 
 l3elonging to the Inferior Court, being deposited in an 
 Office upon the lower Floor, were most of them pre- 
 served." 
 
 There is proof that the Council Chamber was the 
 scene of festivities on state occasions, such as the 
 birthday of the sovereign or his accession, the ar- 
 rival of a new governor, etc. Here also were held 
 public funerals, as in the case of Fitz-John Winthrop. 
 From the balcony, at the east end, it was customary 
 to proclaim the laws, with sound of trumpets and 
 beat of drums; and doubtless from so convenient an 
 elevation, • loyal addresses were delivered to the 
 assembled townsmen on occasion. 
 
 As it happens, we know much less of the arrange- 
 ment of the Kepresentatives' Hall at this period, as 
 our chief authority, kSewall, was a councillor and 
 judge. We know that the number of deputies was 
 one hundred and three in 1720; and as new towns 
 were corporated, the number rose to about one 
 hundred and twenty-five. 
 
 The speaker was annually chosen, and the choice 
 submitted to the governor, who rarely negatived. 
 In 1705, Thomas Oakes; in 1720, Elisha Cook; in 
 1789, Paul Dudley; in 1741, Samuel Watts; in 1766, 
 James Otis, were respectively chosen and set aside. 
 
OLD STATE HOUSE EE-DEDICATION. 31 
 
 The House also elected a clerk, but the office was 
 generally continued from year to year. 
 
 The forms of the House were probably copied 
 from those of Parliament, the council figuring as 
 our House of Lords. The will of the Governor 
 w^as signified by messages or speeches; the wishes 
 of the deputies by committees and by messages. 
 Hutchinson says (ii, 259), apropos of a quarrel be- 
 tween Governor Dudley and the House about the 
 power of adjournment, " It has always been the prac- 
 tice of the house, before and since, upon a message 
 from the governor, to stop all business and go up 
 without delay." It seems also that divisions of the 
 House were made by going to the north and south 
 sides. We infer from this that the speaker sat at 
 the west end, facing the main doors, and that 
 the deputies were marshalled by him on either 
 hand. 
 
 In this chamber from 1711 to 1717 presided as 
 Governor, Joseph Dudle}^, William Tailer^ Samuel 
 Shute, Williain Dammer,^ Jonathan Belcher and 
 William Shirley, all upright and worth}^ men, but all 
 of them so hampered by restrictions from the home 
 government, as to be frecpiently involved in disputes 
 with the representatives of the people. During this 
 
 ^ Taller and Dummei' were Lieutenant Governors, acting in the place of 
 the Governors. 
 
32 OLD STATE HOUSE RE-DEDICATION. 
 
 period the population increased steadily from eleven 
 thousand in 1715 to seventeen thousand in 1714, 
 though after the last date it remained stationary or 
 slightly decreased. 
 
 In ]N"ovember, 1747, the Town-house was the 
 centre of another uprising. Commodore Knowles 
 was in command of a fleet lying off the harbor. 
 Having lost some deserters, he sent a' press-gang into 
 the harbor, seizing sailors from the ships, and even 
 landsmen from the wharves. There was at once an 
 outburst of popular indignation, in which all ranks 
 joined. "As soon as it was dusk, several thousand 
 people assembled in King street, below the Town 
 House, where the General Court was sitting. Stones 
 and brick batts were thrown through the glass into 
 the Council Chambei-. The Governor [Shirley], 
 however, with several gentlemen of the Council and 
 House, ventured into the balcony," ^ and after silence 
 was obtained addressed the assemblage. He prom- 
 ised to try to obtain the release of the townsmen ; but 
 the crowd was not to be thus pacified. For three 
 days the contest continued, the people having seized 
 some of the officers from the fleet as hostages, and 
 the commodore threatening to bombard the town by 
 way of reprisal. Finally the Legislature interposed 
 with promises to both sides; the impressed men were 
 
 ' Hutchinson, ii., 432. 
 
OLD STATE HOUSE RE-DEDICATION. 33 
 
 liberated, and the squadron sailed, to the great relief 
 of all in authority. 
 
 On Wednesday, December 9, 1747, the Town- 
 house was greatly injured b}^ a fire. The following 
 extract from the newsj^apers will explain the extent 
 of the loss: — 
 
 " Yesterday morning between 6 & 7 o'clock we were exceedingly 
 surprised by a, most terril)le Fire, which Ijroke out at the Court 
 House in this Town, whereby that spacious and lieautiful IJuilding 
 except the bare outward Walls, was entirely destroyed. As the 
 Fire began in the middle or second Story, the Records, Books, 
 Papers, Furniture, Pictures of the Kings and Queens, &c., which 
 were in the Council Chamber, the Chamber of the House of Repre- 
 sentatives, and the Apartments thereof, in that Story, were con- 
 sumed ; as were also the Books and Papers in the Offices of the 
 upper Story : Those in the Offices below were mostly saved. In 
 the Cellars wdiich were hired by several Persons, a great quantity 
 of Wines and other Liquors were lost. The publick Damage 
 sustain'd l)y this sad Disaster is inexpressibly great and the Loss 
 to some particular Persons, 't is said Avill amount to several Thou- 
 sand Pounds. The Vehemence of the Flames occasional such a 
 great Heat as to set the Roofs of some of the opposite Houses on 
 Fire notwithstanding they had been covered with Snow, and it was 
 extinguished with much Ditficidt3'. How the Fire was occasion'd, 
 whether by Defects in the Chimney or Hearth as some think, is 
 uncertain." — Boston WeeJdy News Letter, Thursday, December 10, 
 1747. 
 
 The account in the Boston Evening Post, for the 
 fourteenth of December, adds : — 
 
 " The fine Pictures and other Furniture in the Council Chamber 
 
34 OLD STATE HOUSE RE-DEDICATION. 
 
 were destroyed as were also the Books, Papers and Records iu 
 both the Lobbies, and those in the Offices kept iu the upper Story ; 
 but the County Records and Papers belonging to the luferiour 
 Court l)eiug dei)ositcd iu an Office upou the lower Floor, were 
 most of them preserved." 
 
 The same paper prints the following extracts 
 from the Journal of the House of Representatives: — 
 
 "12 Dectmher A.B.XIM. 
 
 "■ Upou a motion made and seconded, 
 
 " Besolved, that the House now make particular Enquiry how 
 the late Fii-e in the Court House was first discovered, and by what 
 Means it was occasioned. After examining the Door-keeper and 
 receiving a particular account of the Time and Circumstances of 
 his leaving the House the Evening before, and enquiring of those 
 Gentlemen who early discovered the Fire. 
 
 '' Resolved, Tliat it appears to the Satisfaction of this House, that 
 the late Fire which consumed the Court House, proceeded from the 
 Wood-work under the Hearth taking Fire, and that the Fire first 
 broke out in the Entry-way lietween the Council Chamber and the 
 Representatives' Room, and from thence went up the Stair Case, 
 and through the Roof, and continued until the House was con- 
 sumed." 
 
 The General Court was offered the use of Faneuil 
 Hall, l)ut was accommodated for the few days 
 remaining in the session at the Royal Exchange 
 tavei'ii kept by Luke Yardy, on the west corner of 
 Exchange and State streets. 
 
 It seems that, as in 1711, the expense of the repaii-s 
 was paid, one-half by the Province, one-qnarter by 
 
OLD STATE HOUSE RE-l)EDlCATlON. 35 
 
 the town of Boston, and one-quai'ter by the towns in 
 the countj^ of Suffolk. The expense w^as £3,705 
 11.9. 4:d. lawful money. Whatever plans were made 
 for this restoration, it would seem that the exterior 
 walls at least w^ere not touched. 
 
 Fortunately, as in Ideal's case, in 1720, we have 
 a description of the new ])uilding from one who 
 saw it in its freshness. Capt. Francis Goelet (whose 
 journal is printed in the jS'.E. Historical and Genea- 
 logical Register for 1870, p. 72) thus describes it 
 in the autumn of 1750: — 
 
 ''They have also a Town House, built of Brick, situated in 
 King's street. It's a very Grand Brick Building, Arch'd all 
 Round, and Two Storie Heigh, Sash'd above ; its Lower Part is 
 always Open, design'd as a Change, tho' the Merchants in Fair 
 Weather make their Change in the open Street at the Eastermost 
 End. In the upper Story are the Council and Assembly Cham- 
 bers &c. It has a neat Capulo, sash'd all round, and w'hich on 
 rejoycing days is Ellumiuated." 
 
 Capt. Goelet mentions that on October 30th, 
 His Majesty's Birth-day, he " went at noon with 
 Capt. Wendell to the Councill Chamber in the 
 Towne House, where [he] drank the Loyall Toasts 
 with the Lieutenant Governor, Councill,'' etc. 
 
 By the records of the House it appears that 
 Dec. 12, 1752, there was paid £6 13s. 4d. to Moses 
 Deshon " for the arms of the Colony wdiich he has 
 carved, and put up in the House of Representatives." 
 
36 OLD STATE HOUSE RE-DEDICATION. 
 
 By the bill of the painter in 1773, it seems that 
 the Colony arms still remained, while the King's 
 arms, also then paid for, were probably in the 
 Council Chamber. The historic Codfish was also 
 mentioned, and various pictures, of which the only 
 one named is that of Gov. Burnet. 
 
 Yery strangely, it appears by the newspapers of 
 June, 17(36, that a gallery was put in the Represent- 
 atives' Hall, though it is hard to imagine where 
 space was fomid for it. Chandeliers, of course, hung 
 in each hall, and the desk of the Clerk or Speaker 
 of the House is still preserved by the Massachusetts 
 Historical Society.^ 
 
 When the work of the restoration was commenced 
 last year, it was found that the framing of the 
 timbers was such that there must have been a 
 circular stairway in the place now occupied by it, 
 from the first floor to the halls, and that the landings 
 must have presented their present form." 
 
 ' Although described as the Speaker's desk, it seems almost impossible 
 that it could have been so used. It may have been the clerk's desk, but the 
 presiding officer would apparently require a more prominent place. 
 • ^ The balusters in the new stairway are copied from those in Gov. 
 Shirley's house, still standing in Roxbury. As he was the governor at the 
 date of the i-ebuilding, in 1747, no better exemplars could be desired. 
 Similar balusters are in the home of the Quincys. The plans made by Isaiah 
 Rogers in 1830 show the same stairway, out of centre, and the floor beams 
 explain tlie cause of this eccentricity. 
 
OLD STATE HOUSE RE-DEDICATION. 37 
 
 The same investigation showed tliat the Kepre- 
 sentatives' Hall had its easterly end curved, while 
 the Council Chamber was square. These indications 
 coincide with a description published in 1791, when 
 the halls were occupied by the Legislature of the 
 State, and when, apparently, no changes liad l)een 
 made. The Massachusetts Magazine for August, 
 1791, gives a south-%vest view of the building, i.e., 
 one taken from the Washington-street end, and the 
 following description is added: — 
 
 " The State House is an elegant brick building, standing at the 
 head of State Street, one mile and 21)7 yards from tlie fortification. 
 It is 110 feet in length and thirty-eight in breadtli. The founda- 
 tions of the present waljs were laid A.D. 1712, the former State 
 House liaving been reduced to ashes in the great fire of the pre- 
 ceding 3'ear. The internal part of this building again experienced 
 the desolating flame in 1747, when a vast numljer of ancient books 
 and early records, together with a collection of A^aluable papers, 
 were destroyed, and to the ravages of this calamity we may attrib- 
 ute the imperfect accounts that are to be obtained of the first and 
 second Ijuilding. The ascent to the lower floor, as fronting the 
 Long wharf, is by an elevated flight of large stone steps, railed 
 round with neat iron balustrades. There are three other entrances ; 
 one at the opposite end, facing to Cornhill, and the other two in 
 the opjwsite centres of the length. The Clerks of the Supreme 
 Judicial Court and Court of Common Pleas hold their ottices 
 upon the first floor, which also serves in bad weather as an 
 exchange for the mercantile part of the community. A range 
 of Doric pillars support the floors of the second story, which is 
 
38 OLD STATE HOUSE EE-DE1)1CATI0N. 
 
 destined for the accominodatiou of the General Legislature. The 
 Senate Chamber is thirty-two feet square and fifteen feet in 
 height, furnished with a convenient lobbj' for committees to 
 transact l)nsiness in. The Representatives' Chamber is fiftj^-seven 
 and a half feet in length,' thirtj^-two in breadth, and the same 
 height as the former, with a well-constructed lobby. The third 
 or upper story is improved by different committees during the 
 session, and has an East, West and South lobby; beside several 
 apartments for publick papers and records. On the centre of the 
 roof is a tower, consisting of three stories, finished according to 
 the Tuscan, Dorick and lonick orders complete, and from thence 
 is a fine prospect of the Harbor and adjacent Country." 
 
 The painter's bill of 1773 also mentions the Lion 
 and the Unicorn which crowned the east end of the 
 exterior, the carved corner-pieces on the west front, 
 the balcony and pediment in front at the main 
 window of the Council Chamber, and the steps, 
 which, for a time, reached from the first floor down 
 State street. 
 
 These featm'es have all been reproduced in the 
 restored building*. It was, indeed, a question whether 
 
 ' This figure, fifty-seven and one half feet, is an impossibility, being more 
 than one-half the length of the building. But thirty-seven and one-half 
 feet would reach exactly to the line of the curved end of the hall as shown 
 on Rogers' plans and now reconstructed. Evidently the writer put his notes 
 of the measurements in figures, and either he or his printer mistook thirty- 
 seven and one-half for fifty-seven and one-half. The error really confirms 
 the exactness of the record. 
 
 - These steps figure in the quaint picture dated about 1810, now owned 
 by the Historical Society, but they were removed before the view in Hales' 
 Survey was taken. 
 
OLD STATE HOUSE RE-DEDICATION. 39 
 
 or not to restore the Royal arms upon the east end, 
 but a feature so distinctive, architecturally, could not 
 be well omitted. Happily, no one will to-day misun- 
 derstand the feeling with which we replace this me- 
 mento of our colonial days, — a recognition merely of 
 the facts of history, neither forgetful of the protec- 
 tion which the mother country once extended, nor 
 boastful of the change which has given us a national 
 coat-of-arms, a national flag, and a supreme govern- 
 ment, at least equal to those which we renounced a 
 century ago. 
 
 Having thus considered the history of the walls of 
 this building, let us review the scenes which took 
 place therein. During the administration of Shirley 
 (1741-1757), and of Pownall (1757-17(50), the 
 colony was undoubtedly, loyal. The great expendi- 
 tures made b}^ England to carry out the favorite wish 
 of the colonists by the overtlirow of the French 
 power in America, had not only pleased but enriched 
 the sea-board colonies. Many of our citizens served 
 with credit in the various armies which attacked 
 Canada, many others had served in the navy or the 
 transport sei'vice, and Boston especially liad l^ecome 
 accustomed to the presence of Englisli troops and 
 Crown officials. Shirley had identified himself with 
 the colony, had built a house here and reai'ed a 
 family amid Bostonian surroundings. His ardor in 
 
40 OLD STATE HOUSE RE-DEDICATION. 
 
 military affairs led him to be less strenuous in smaller 
 civil matters, and he had acquiesced in such encroach- 
 ments by the Legislature as restrained the power of 
 the Crown or the influence of the governor. 
 
 Pownall's short rule of three years was notcAvorthy 
 mainly for its military record. 
 
 In August, 17G0, Francis Bernard arrived here to 
 succeed Pownall, and five months later, news was 
 received of the accession of George- III. With the 
 new king and the new governor begins the closing 
 chapter of our colonial history. This is not the 
 time to attempt to describe the causes which led to 
 the Revolution, except in so for as any important 
 events took place in this building. Here, under this 
 roof, indeed, Avere encamped the hostile foi'ces of the 
 civil government. In this room the Royal Governor 
 and his generally subservient Council could listen to 
 the applause which greeted the impassioned elo- 
 quence of the popular leaders of the Representatives 
 in the adjoining hall, as they gradually developed 
 the ideas of " no represention, no taxation," and " no 
 representation, no legislation," as Hutchinson scorn- 
 fully termed them (Hist., iii., 1(34). How often must 
 these lobbies and entries have been thronged by the 
 citizens of Boston, anxious to catch the latest intel- 
 ligence of Ro^^al obstinacy or of popular indigna- 
 tion. In those days the press was so circumscribed 
 
OLD STATE HOUSE RE-DEDICATION. 41 
 
 in its province, that the news was only to be ob- 
 tained by contact with the actors; and here was the 
 centre of all that absorbed the attention of the com- 
 munity. The town meetings were held at Faneuil 
 Hall,^ and when more room was needed, they ad- 
 journed to the Old South Church. Yet, powerful 
 as was the influence of Boston, the citizens could 
 only issue instructions to their representatives in the 
 august body, which, in these halls, spoke in the 
 name of the entire colony. It will be necessary to 
 give a few instances of the occurrences in these 
 apartments, from the evidence of the actors therein. 
 In 1761, soon after Bernard's arrival, James Otis, 
 Jr., aroused the public by his famous plea against 
 the Writs of Assistance. John Adams has ad- 
 mirably described the scene in this hall, in a letter 
 written to a friend in 1817 : — 
 
 " The scene is the Council chamber in the old town house in 
 Boston. The date is in the month of Febrnarv, 17(51, nine years 
 before you entered my office in Cole lane. As this was five years 
 before you entered college, you must have been in the second 
 form of Master Lovell's school. That Council chamber was as 
 
 • ' It is often forgotten that F.aneuil Hall prior to A.D. 1808, was much 
 smaller than it now is. The addition of another story and an extension on 
 the south side added greatly to the space. Of course these changes have 
 not destroyed the identity of the building, but they are much greater than 
 those made in these Memorial Halls, where only one wall has been replaced 
 in each room, and those on the exact lines of the former i)artitions. 
 
42 OLD STATE HOUSE RE-DEDICATION. 
 
 respectable an apartment as the House of Commons or the House 
 of Lords in Great Britain, in proportion, or that in the State 
 House in Philadelphia, in which the Declaration of Independence 
 was signed in 1776. In this chamber, round a great fire, were 
 seated five judges, witli Lieutenant-Governor Hutchinson at their 
 head as Chief Justice, all arrayed in their new. fresh, rich robes 
 of scarlet English broadcloth ; in their large cambric bands and 
 immense judicial wigs. In this chamber were seated at a long 
 table all the ])arristers-at-law of Boston and of the neiahborina: 
 county of Middlesex, in gowns, bands, and tie wigs. The}' were 
 not seated on ivory chairs, l)ut their dress was more solemn and 
 more pompous than that of the Eoman Senate, when the Gauls 
 broke in upon them. In the corner of the room must be placed 
 as a spectator and an auditor, wit, sense, imagination, genius, 
 pathos, reason, prudence, eloquence, learning and immense read- 
 ing, hanging by the shoulders on two crutches, covered with a 
 great cloth coat, in the person of Mr. Pratt, who had been solic- 
 ited on both sides, but would engage on neither, being, as Chief 
 Justice of New York, about to leave Boston forever. Two por- 
 traits, at more than full length, of King Charles the Second and 
 of King James the Second, in splendid golden frames, were hung 
 up on the most conspicuous sides of the apartment. If my young 
 eyes or old memory have not deceived me, these were as fine pict- 
 ures as I ever saw-; the colors of the royal ermines and long, 
 flowing robes were the most glowing, the figures the most noble 
 and graceful, the features the most distinct and characteristic, far 
 superior to those of the king and queen of France in the Senate 
 chamber of Congress — these were worthy of the pencils of 
 Rubens and Vandyke. There was no painter in England capable 
 of them at that time. They had been sent over without frames in 
 Governor Pownall's time, but he was no admirer of Charles or 
 
OLD STATE HOUSE HE-DEDICATION. 43 
 
 James. The pictures were stowed away in a garret, among 
 rubbish, until Governor Bernard came, who had them cleaned, 
 superbl}- framed, and placed in council foi- the admiration and 
 imitation of all men — no doubt with the advice and concurrence 
 of Hutchinson and all his nel)ula of stars and satellites. One 
 circumstance more. Sanniel Quincy and John Adams had been 
 admitted barristers at that term. John was the youngest ; he 
 should be painted looking like a short, thick archlMshop of 
 Canterbury, seated at the table with a pen in his hand, lost in 
 admiration.'" 
 
 He then proceeds to descrilje the characters in the 
 drama, and thus depicts the chief : — 
 
 " Otis was a flame of fire. With a promptitude of classical 
 allusions, a depth of research, a rapid summary of historical 
 events and dates, a profusion of legal authorities, a prophetic 
 glance of his eye into futurity, and a torrent of impetuous 
 eloquence, he hurried away everything before him. American 
 independence was then and there born ; the seeds of patriots and 
 heroes were then and there sown, to defend the vigorous 3'outh, 
 the non sine diis aniniomis infan-s. Every man of a crowded 
 audience appeared to me to go away, as I did, read}^ to take 
 arms against writs of assistance. Then and there was the first 
 scene of the first act of opposition to the arbitrary claims of Great 
 Britain. Then and there the child Independence was born." 
 
 The immediate result was a modification of the 
 form of the writs ; but the greater consequence was 
 the prominence of Otis, and the attention called to 
 
 ' Adams' Life and Works. Vol. X.. p. 245. 
 
44 OLD STATE HOUSE RE-DEDICATION. 
 
 the oppressive character of the EngUsh revenue laws 
 when apphed to this country. 
 
 A hill succeeded in the political atmosphere for 
 the next two years, and the news of the peace with 
 France, received here in May, 1763, was joyfully 
 welcomed. Soon, however, the clouds gathered, 
 indicative of the coming storm. The vast expense 
 of the war rendered new taxes ine\dtable; unfor- 
 tunately, the consideration of the renewal of a tax 
 which had just expired, — one on the importation 
 of molasses into the colonies, — led the Grenville 
 ministry to determine "to raise by a stamp duty, 
 or in some other way, a sum from America, sufficient 
 to ease government in part from the future charges 
 Avhich might be necessary there." (Hutchinson, iii., 
 109.) 
 
 In April, 1765, news was received of the passage 
 of the act, and popular opposition was at once 
 excited. On the l^irthday of the Prince of Wales, 
 August 12, it was concerted to hang the appointed 
 distributor of stamps in effigy. This was done two 
 days later, the image being suspended from the 
 Liberty Tree, which stood on the corner of Essex 
 and Washington streets. The Council was hastily 
 assembled, but prudently advised that nothing be 
 done, hoping that the matter would end there. 
 
OLD STATE HOUSE KE-DEDICATION. 45 
 
 " Before night the image was taken clown, and carried through 
 the Town House, in the chamber whereof the Governor and 
 Council were sitting. Forty or lifty tradesmen, decently dressed, 
 preceded ; and some thousands of the mol) followed down King 
 street to Oliver's dock, near which Mr. Oliver had lately erected 
 a building, which, it was conjectured, he designed for a stamp 
 office. This was laid flat to the ground in a few minutes. F'rora 
 thence the mob proceeded for Fort Hill, but Mr. Oliver's house 
 being in the way, they endeavored to force themselves into it, and 
 being opposed, broke the windows, beat down the doors, entered, 
 and destroyed part of his furniture, and continued in riot until 
 midnight before they separated." (Hutchinson, iii., 121.) 
 
 On the evening of August 26 a mob collected in 
 King street, " drawn there hj a bonfire, and well 
 supplied with strong drink." They plundered the 
 cellars of the comptroller of customs, and then 
 marched to the house of Thomas Hutchinson, in Gar- 
 den court, near Fleet street, where, all night long, 
 undisturbed b}" the frightened neighborhood, the work 
 of destruction went on. These inexcusable outrages 
 were promptly disavoAved in town meeting, and most 
 probably were the work of those turbulent and law- 
 less men who always appear whenever authority is 
 suspended, to dishonor and injure the cause they 
 nominally sujjport. 
 
 When the Legislature met, on October 24, 1765, 
 Boston was represented by a new member, — Samuel 
 Adams, — then first the recipient of high office, but 
 
46 OLD STATE HOUSE liE-l)EDICATI()N. 
 
 already a leader among the advocates of independ- 
 ence. Otis was in 'New York, attending a conven- 
 tion of delegates from the various colonies, which 
 had been convoked by royal authority. The differ- 
 ence in the political views of these leadei's was 
 marked, though it did not prevent their unison in 
 many points. Otis believed that Parliament was su- 
 preme, but that the Colonies were entitled to repre- 
 sentation therein. Adams '^professed principles, 
 which he owned without reserve in private discourse, 
 to be independency; and, from time to time, he made 
 advances towards it in publick, as f\ir as would serve 
 the great purpose of attaining to it. To his influence 
 may be attributed the great advance made in this 
 session." (Hutchinson, iii., 134.) On the 29th of 
 October, in the adjoining hall, the House passed the 
 famous Resolves, prepared by Samuel Adams, one of 
 which declares, " That all acts made by any power 
 whatever, other than the General Assembly of this 
 Province, imposing taxes on the inhabitants, are 
 infringements of our inherent and unalienable rights 
 as men and British subjects, and render void the 
 most valuable declarations of our charter." 
 
 To be sure, this was coupled with a declaration of 
 loyalty to the Crown and to Parliament; but the first 
 resolve contained a political truth, and the last a 
 politic profession. 
 
OLD STATE HOUSE RE-DEDICATIOX. 47 
 
 On May 16, 176(), the news of the repeal of the 
 Stamp Act was received here, and caused universal 
 rejoicing. In kSeptember the Rockinghani-Shelburne 
 ministry came into power, and was believed to be 
 friendly to the Colonies. The governor here had 
 several disputes with the legislature, the Council dis- 
 played unusual independence, and the influence of 
 Adams, now promoted to the office of Clerk of the 
 House,^ was steadily on the hicrease. The same state 
 of affairs characterized the whole of the following 
 year, 17(J7, until, in the autumn, news was received 
 of the passage of an act levying "small duties on 
 paper, glass, and paintei's' colors, imported into 
 America; to take off 12d., which had been charged 
 in England on every pound of tea exported, and to 
 lay 3d. only, payable upon its importation into 
 America." (Hutchinson, iii., 179.) Commissioners 
 were appointed to enforce the customs' laws, and an 
 act was passed legalizing the writs of assistance, 
 under which search was made for smuggled goods. 
 
 In February, 17(58, the House passed a bill order- 
 ing letters to be written to the other colonies, " with 
 respect to the importance of joining with them in 
 petitioning his majesty at this time." This w^as 
 
 ' "The office having some emoUiment, it had generally been filled by one 
 of the members, who took the same share in debating and voting as if 
 he had not been clerk, and rather ae(juired than lost inflnence bv being so." 
 (Hutcliinson, iii., 14S.) 
 
48 OLD STATE HOUSE RE-DEDICATION. 
 
 Adams' measure, — a potent weapon in the coming 
 conflict. Another resolve was, "that this House will, 
 by all prudent means, endeavor to discountenance 
 the use of foreign superfluities, and to encourage the 
 manufactures of this Province." 
 
 The English government demanded the rescinding 
 the vote authorizing the Circular Letter, but the 
 House, by a vote of 92 to 17, refused obedience. 
 " The galleries were cleared, and all communication 
 with the other Board or from the outside, was shut 
 off during the debate." (Life of S. Adams, i., iii.) 
 Even a committee of the Council, with certain reso- 
 lutions of that branch, was refused admittance. 
 
 The House was prorogued the same day, and 
 dissolved the next day, but not till it had passed an 
 address to the King asking for the removal of Gov- 
 ernor Bernard. 
 
 An ill-advised measiu'e at this time added to the 
 popular discontent. Owing to Bernard's representa- 
 tions, it had been decided that one or two regiments 
 should be sent from Halifax to Boston. On hearing 
 of the riots here, the government in England ordered 
 two more regiments from Ireland. The news of the 
 first order was received in Boston about the begin- 
 ning of September, 1768, and, as the Legislature was 
 not expected to meet for a year, the town-meeting of 
 Boston took action. On learning from the governor 
 
OLD STATE HOUSE RE-DEDICATION. 49 
 
 that the troops were soon to carrive, — one reghnent 
 for the Castle and two for the town, — the meeting 
 voted to hold a convention on September 22, of 
 delegates from all the other towns, "in order that 
 snch measures may be concerted and advised, as his 
 majesty's service and the peace and safety of his 
 snbjects in the province may reqnire." As Hutchin- 
 son says (Hist., iii., 205), "it must be allowed by all, 
 that tlie proceedings of this meeting had a greater 
 tendency towards a revolution in government than 
 any preceding measures in any of the colonies. The 
 inhabitants of one town alone took upon them to 
 convene an assembly from all the towns, that, in 
 everything but in name, would be a House of Repre- 
 sentatives." A most just comment; and let us 
 to-day be proud of the fact that the town thus 
 assuming the lead was Boston. Although the result 
 of the meeting, which was duly held at Faneuil Hall, 
 was not as tangible as was hoped, it showed the 
 colonists how to proceed towards a re])ellion whilst 
 preserving the forms of law. The convention ad- 
 journed September 29, the day after the fleet and 
 soldiers reached Xantasket. The troops, amounting 
 to one tliousand men, under Lieutenant-Colonel Dal- 
 rym])le, landed without o])position. One regiment 
 pitched their tents on the Common; the others 
 were marched to Faneuil Hall, and, after some dis- 
 
50 OLD STATE HOUSE RE-DEDICATION. 
 
 ])iite, were sheltered there for one night. " The next 
 clay. Gov. Bernard ordered the doors of the Town 
 House to be opened, except that of the Conncil 
 Chamber; and such part were lodged there as Fan- 
 euil Hall rooms wonld not accommodate. The rep- 
 resentatives' room was filled, in common with the 
 rest." (Hutchinson, iii., 212.) 
 
 Gen. Gage was summoned from ISTew York, and 
 the Council attempted to ■ find a way to satisfy both 
 sides. The result was that houses were hired for the 
 troops, but in the iuimediate yicinity of the Town 
 House. The qnartering of troops at this spot was 
 felt keenly by the province. The next town meeting 
 demanded of Gen. Mackay, then in command, the 
 removal of the troops on election day. He replied 
 that he conld not do this, but wonld confine them to 
 their barracks. When the Legislature met, in May, 
 1769, its first work, after organizing, was to resolve 
 that, "an armament by sea and land investing the 
 metropolis, and a military guard, with cannon pointed 
 at the very door of the State Hous(^, where this As- 
 sembly is held, is inconsistent with that dignity, as 
 well as that freedom, with which we have a right to 
 deliberate, consult, and determine." They added 
 that they expected the governor to order the removal 
 of these forces during the session of the Assembly. 
 As they refused to transact business while the troojDs 
 
OLD STATE HOUSE RE-DEDICATION. 51 
 
 remained, and as the governor Avoiild not consent, lie 
 adjourned the Legislature to (Cambridge. Finally, 
 two regiments were sent back to Halifax, the 14th 
 and 29th remaining here. Bernard was recalled, and 
 sailed on July 31, 17G9, amid demonstrations of 
 popnlar joy. By his departure the duties devolved 
 npon Thomas Hutchinson, the lientenant-governor, a 
 native of Boston, a man of foi'tiine and eminent abili- 
 ties, ])nt already distasteful to his fellow-citizens as 
 the ablest defender of the roj^alist views in the col- 
 ony. He came to the command in times which were 
 daih' becoming more tnrljulent, and, having persist- 
 ently taken the })art of the Crown, he has justly for- 
 feited all claims to the respect of the descendants of 
 the rebels. 
 
 During the autumn of 1769 the bitter feelino; 
 between the colonists and the loyalists rapidly 
 increased. James Otis was dangerously wounded 
 in an affray with a Crown officer in the British 
 Coffee Honse, which stood on State street, at the 
 present ISTo. 6(3. It is probable that the violence 
 he then received completed the overthrow of his 
 intellect, and, thenceforward, he ceased to lead in 
 public affairs. On the 22d of February, 1770, a 
 local riot led to the shooting, l:)y one Kichardson, 
 of a boy named Christopher Snyder, the first victim 
 to the evil passions excited by the state of affairs. 
 
52 OLD STATE HOUSE RE-DEDICATION. 
 
 The merchants of tlie town had been nearly 
 unanimous in giving effect to the populai" wish to 
 prevent the importation of EngUsh goods, although 
 the taxes had been taken off' of all imports except 
 tea. Early in 1770, however, a new turn was given 
 to popular thought, by what is known as the State 
 Street Massacre. From these windows we overlook 
 the scene of this famous event, but it has been too 
 often descri])ed to need more than the briefest 
 reference. A fight between the soldiers and the 
 workmen at Gray's ropewalk, on March 2, 1770, 
 had raised a resentment in the minds of the troops, 
 which led to fatal results. On Monday evening, 
 March 5th, the soldiers began to show signs of 
 insubordination. In and around their l)arracks, in 
 Dock Square, they assailed the passers-by with 
 threats and blows. The boys of the town rang 
 the bell in the First Church, and the citizens began 
 to throng towards the Town House. A large 
 crowd gathered in Dock square, for, in those days, 
 a few minutes' walk would bring every householder 
 to the centre of the town. Here a leader, pre- 
 sumably William Molineaux, advised the people to 
 disperse — a counsel followed by part, while others 
 started for State street. The Custom House stood 
 at the corner of State and Exchange streets, and 
 there a sentinel was posted. A crowd of boys 
 
OLD STATE HOUSE RE-DEDICATION. 53 
 
 assaulted him with snowl)alls, until a messenger 
 was sent hastily to the g'uard-honse near by. Some 
 seven or eight men, under Capt. Preston, at onee 
 rushed to the relief of the guard, loaded quickly, 
 and stood at bay. The mob pressed upon them, 
 striking their muskets, and otherwise insulting 
 them, being evidently of the belief that the soldiers 
 would not fire. The order was given to present 
 arms, and then to fire, though it was never dis- 
 covered who gave the fatal word. A rambling fire 
 by the guard, at these close quarters, killed three 
 persons and wounded eight others. 
 
 At once the partisans of each side rushed to the 
 spot. The soldiers Avere drawn up in order of 
 battle, but remained under the control of their 
 ofiScers. The bells of the churches aroused the 
 alarmed inhabitants, who thronged the street to 
 gaze upon the blood-stained snow, which testified 
 to the awful tragedy. A few hastened to summon 
 Gov. Hutchinson, w^ho, " to satisfy the people, called 
 for Ca])tain Preston, and inquired wh}^ he fired 
 upon the inhabitants without the direction of a 
 civil magistrate. The noise was so great that his 
 answer could not be undei'stood, and some, Avho 
 were apprehensive of the lieutenant-governor's dan- 
 ger from the general confusion, called out, ■ The 
 Town House! the Town House!' and, with irre- 
 
54 OLD STATE HOUSE RE-DEDICATION, 
 
 sistible violence, he was forced up by the crowd 
 into the Council Chamber. There, demand was 
 immediately made of him to order the troops to 
 withdraw from the Town House to their barracks. 
 He refused to comply, and, calling from the bal- 
 cony, to the great body of people which remained 
 in the street, he expressed his great concern at the 
 unhappy event, assured them he would do every- 
 thing in his power in order to a full and impartial 
 inquiiy, that the law might have its course, and 
 advised them to go peaceably to their several 
 homes. Upon this there was a cry, ^ Home ! home ! ' 
 and a great part separated and went home." — 
 (Hutchinson, iii., 273.) 
 
 Captain Preston and the soldiers implicated sur- 
 rendered themselves before morning, and were com- 
 mitted to prison. This was not sufficient to satisfy 
 the people, and a town meeting was held in Faneuil 
 Hall. The selectmen had already w^aited upon 
 Hutchinson, in this chamber, to demand the removal 
 of the troops from the town. He repeated that he 
 had not the power, but summoned Colonels Dal- 
 rymple and Carr to confer with the Council. 
 
 When the selectmen reached the meeting Samuel 
 Adams addressed it. A committee of fifteen, headed 
 by Adams, proceeded to the Council Chamber to 
 repeat the demand for the removal of the troops. 
 
OLD STATE HOUSE RE-DEDICATION. 55 
 
 The committee presented its message and withdrew 
 into another room to wait for an answer. Dalrymple 
 consented to withdraw the 29th Regiment to the 
 Castle, and the Ccmncil adjonrned till the afternoon, 
 in hopes that the concession wonld prove enough. 
 
 At three o'clock the town-meeting reassenil)lcd, 
 but adjourned to the Old South Church to accommo- 
 date the increasing crowds. " The committee, led 
 by Samuel Adams, his head liared in reverence to 
 the occasion, and his gray locks flowing in the wind, 
 issued from the Council chaml)er." Through a 
 crowd reaching to the church the committee silently 
 passed, and, in the presence of three thousand eager 
 listeners, the proposal of the royal governor was 
 announced. It was at once voted to be insufficient, 
 and a new connnittee, with the same leader, was 
 appointed to make a final demand. 
 
 John Adams has eloquently described the scene ^ 
 in the following words : — 
 
 "Now for the i)ietnre. The theatre and the scenery are the 
 same with those at the discussion of writs of assistance. The 
 same glorious portraits of King Charles II. and King James II., 
 to which might he added, and shouhl be added, little miserable 
 likenesses of Governor Winthrop, Governor Bradstreet, Governor 
 Endicott, and Governor Belcher, hung up in obsciu-e corners of the 
 room. Lieutenant-Governor Hutchinson, Commander-in-Chief iu 
 
 •Adams' Life anrl Works. Vol. X., p. 241). 
 
S6 OLD STATE HOUSE RE-DEDICATION. 
 
 the absence of the goveruor, must be placed at the head of the 
 couucil table. Lieutenaut-Colouel Dalrj'mple, Couimauder-in-Chief 
 of His JNIajesty's military forces, taking rank of all His Majesty's 
 counsellors, must be seated by the side of the Lieutenant-Governor 
 and Commander-in-Chief of the province. Eight and twenty 
 counsellors must be painted, all seated at the council l)oard. Let 
 me see — what costume ? What was the fashion of that day in the 
 month of March? Large white wigs, English scarlet cloth cloaks, 
 some of them with gold-laced hats not on their heads, indeed, in so 
 august a presence, l)ut on the table before them, or under the table 
 beneath them. Before these illustrious personages appeared 
 Samuel Adams, a member of the House of Eepresentatives, and 
 their clerks, now at the head of the committee of the great 
 assembly at the Old South Church." 
 
 " Such was the situation of aftairs when Samuel Adams was 
 reasoning with Lieutenant-Governor Hutchinson and Lieutenant- 
 Colonel Dairy mple. He had fairly driven them from all their out- 
 works, breastworks, and intrenchments to their citadel. There 
 they paused and considered and deliberated. The heads of 
 Hutchinson and Dalrymple were laid together in whispers for a 
 long time ; when the whispering ceased a long and solemn pause 
 ensued, extremely painful to an impatient, expecting audience. 
 Hutchinson, in time, broke silence. He had consulted with 
 Colonel Dalrymple, and the colonel had authorized him to say 
 that he uiiglit order one regiment down to the Castle, if that would 
 satisfy the people. With a self-recollection, a self-possession, a 
 self-command, a presence of mind that was admired by every man 
 present, Samuel Adams arose with an air of dignity and majesty, 
 of which he was sometimes capable, stretched forth his arm, 
 though even then quivering with palsy, and with an harmonious 
 voice and decisive tone said, ' If the Lieutenant-Governor or 
 
OLD STATE HOUSE RE-DEDICATION. oi 
 
 Colouel Dalrymple, or both together, have authority to remove 
 one regiment, they have authority to remove two, aud nothing 
 short of the total evacuation of the town Ijy all the regular troojjs 
 will satisfy the puldie mind <n' preserve the peace of the [)rovince.' 
 These few words thrilled the veins of every man in the audience, 
 and produced the great result. After a little awkward hesitation 
 it was agreed that the town should l)e evacuated and both regi- 
 ments sent to the Castle." 
 
 Hutchinson's own account of the aftair aofrees 
 substantially with this, though tin-owing the respon- 
 sibility upon Col. Dalrymple. On March 10 and 
 11 the two regiments were removed to the Castle. 
 
 Surely such an event as this must render this hall 
 forever memorable. Whatever else had been done, 
 at other times and places, here was taken the first 
 open step toward successful rebellion. A govern- 
 ment which removes its military force from a fort, 
 a town, or a province, at the demand of its subjects, 
 can hope to regain its ascendancy in the future only 
 by the display of an irresistible armament in the 
 same place. Hutchinson, who w^ell understood the 
 position, wrote to a friend, in March, 1770: "The 
 body of the people are all of a mind, and there is 
 no stemming the torrent. It is the common lan- 
 guage of Adams and the rest, that they are not 
 to be intimidated by acts of Parliament, for they 
 will not be executed here. . . . We are most 
 
58 OLD STATE HOUSE RE-DEDICATION. 
 
 certainly every day confirming ourselves in onr 
 
 principles of independence ; and tells me he 
 
 is fully convinced that nothing but sharp external 
 force will bring Boston into a state of due subordi- 
 nation.''' (Life of 8. Adams, i., 335.) 
 
 The legislature wjis convened in March, 1770, 
 at Cambridge, despite their protest that the writs 
 specified that the meeting was " to be held at the 
 Town House in Boston.'' Samuel Adams, John 
 Adams, John Hancock, and Joseph Hawley, were 
 the leaders in the House, ably assisted by James 
 Bowdoin in the Council. 
 
 In October the trial of Capt. Preston and his 
 soldiers was held in this hall, John Adams and 
 Josiah Quincy, Jr., acting as their counsel, and 
 Preston was fully acquitted. Two of the soldiers 
 were convicted of manslaughter. 
 
 " The trials were fiir from satisfactory to the prose- 
 cutors ; and, in a short time, a great part of the 
 people were induced to believe the acquittals unjust 
 and contrary to evidence ; and the killing of the men 
 was declared to ])e a horrid massacre, with the same 
 freedom as if the jury had found those concerned in 
 it guilty of murder. A few days after the trial, 
 while the Court continued to sit, an incendiary paper 
 was posted up, in the night, upon the door of the 
 Town House, complaining of the Court for cheating 
 
OLD STATI-: HOUSE RE-T)EDICAT10\. 59 
 
 the injured people with a show of justice, and calling 
 upon them to rise and free the world from such 
 domestick tyrants." (Hutchinson, iii., >)>]().) 
 
 The removal of the train-band from tlie Castle 
 and its delivery to the royjd forces, was another 
 ground of offence to the colonists. 
 
 In March, 1771, Hutchinson's commission as 
 governor arrived, and he met the legislatui-e at 
 Cambridge as before. In the preceding year he had 
 vetoed the election of eleven of his Council, as they 
 were of the popular side. In this year lie accepted 
 them all, except Jolni Hancock and Jerathmeel 
 Bowers. The reported disagreement between Han- 
 cock and Adams, and the fact tliat the latter was 
 opposed in his election in May, 1772, by two hundred 
 and eighteen votes in seven hundred and twenty- 
 three at the Boston meeting, probably influenced the 
 governor to allow the legislature, in 1772, to return 
 to its old apartments in this l)uil(ling. 
 
 As I confine myself to what was done here, I pass 
 over the various events ^\ hich tended to hasten the 
 final rupture. But it was in the adjoining hall, after 
 orderinof the s^alleries to be cleared, that Samuel 
 Adams produced those confidential letters of Hutch- 
 inson to his English friends, which convinced the 
 public that there was no safety for an}- of the 
 opponents of the government. 
 
60 OLD STATE HOUSE EE-DEDICATION. 
 
 In 1773 it became known that the experiment was 
 to l^e made of shipping tea to this country and of 
 collecting the duty upon it. 
 
 On ]^ovember 28, 1773, the tea arrived, and, as 
 Hutchinson bitterly remarks, "while the governor 
 aud Council were sitting on the Monday in the Coun- 
 cil chamber, and known to be consulting upon means 
 for preserving the peace of the. town, several thou- 
 sands, inhabitants of Boston and other towns, were 
 assembled in a publick meeting-house, at a small 
 distance, in direct opposition and defiance." We all 
 know the result: that, after exhausting all peaceable 
 means for the return of the " detested herb," a body 
 of patriots, illegally but rightly, took the responsi- 
 bility of consigning three hundred and forty-two 
 chests of tea to the waves of Boston Harbor. " This 
 was the boldest stroke which had yet been struck in 
 America. . . . Their leaders feared no consequences. 
 . . . They had gone too far to recede. If the colo- 
 nies were subject to the supreme authority and laws 
 of Great Britain, their offences long since had. been 
 of the highest nature. . . . And it is certain that, 
 ever after this time, an opinion was easily instilled, 
 and was constantly increasing, that the body of the 
 people had also gone too far to recede, and that an 
 open and general revolt must be the consequence; 
 and it was not long before actual preparations were 
 
OLD STATE HOUSE RE-DEDICATION. 61 
 
 visibly making for it in most parts of the province." 
 (Hutchinson, iii., 439.) 
 
 Of course this proceeding could not be ignored by 
 Parliament, and, in March, 1774, the Boston Port 
 Bill, closing the port during the pleasure of the King, 
 was passed, with other acts taking all the power 
 from the people or their re]>resentatives, and giving 
 it to the Crown. Persons accused of rioting could 
 be sent to England for trinl, and special orders were 
 given for the arrest of Samuel Adams and other 
 leaders. 
 
 On May 17, 1774, Thomas Gage, the commander- 
 in-chief of all the troops in this country, ari'ived in 
 Boston, commissioned as Governor of the province. 
 Landing at Long Wharf, he was escorted up State 
 street by the Boston Cadets, under the command of 
 Hancock. In this hall he was duly sworn into office, 
 and from the balcony the usual proclamation was made. 
 
 The last session of the legislature held under the 
 royal government was at Salem, on June 7, 1774. It 
 was dissolved on the 17th, after it had provided for 
 the appointment of James Bowdoin, Thomas Cush- 
 ing, Samuel Adams, John Adams, and Robert Treat 
 Paine, as delegates to the Congress to be held at 
 Philadelj^diia. Thenceforward the old government 
 was extinct. In the following year a Provincial 
 Congress, elected by the people, assembled at Water- 
 
62 OLD STATE HOUSE RE-DEDICATION. 
 
 town, to exercise powers acknowledged by all the 
 citizens of the new State. In Boston, the royal gov- 
 ernor, with his select board of thirty counsellors, 
 appointed by himself, kept up for a while the farce of 
 civic government. The true authority was in his 
 hands as commanding the troops, and his official 
 residence was at the Province House, opposite the 
 head of Milk street. 
 
 Hardly anything is on record in regard to the 
 Town House during the siege. It is stated that it 
 was used as a barracks ; certainly, after the evacua- 
 tion of the town, no complaint was made of any 
 injury done to it by the troops. On the 19th of 
 April, 1775, the battle of Lexington was fought; on 
 the 17th of June following, the l)attle of Bunker Hill. 
 On the lOth October, 1775, Gage was recalled to 
 England, and, during his absence. Gen. Howe com- 
 manded on the sea-board, and Gen. Carleton in 
 Canada. On the 17th of March, 1776, the British 
 troops evacuated the town; and, on the 20th, the 
 main body of the American army marched in. 
 
 On the 29th of March, the citizens of Boston 
 held a regular meeting for the election of town 
 officers, in the Old Brick Church, Faneuil Hall 
 having been fitted up as a theatre by the British 
 officers. 
 
 On the 18th of July, 1776, the Declaration of 
 
OLD STATE HOUSE RE-DEDICATION. ()8 
 
 Independence " was made public, with great parade 
 and exultation, from the balcoiw on the east end." 
 
 The State government, which consisted of the 
 legislature without a governor, still remained at 
 "Watertown. The session for 1776 begun May 29, 
 and continued, by one prorogation and one adjourn- 
 ment, until the 12th of ]!!^ovember, when it was 
 transferred to Boston. The " Boston Gazette " of 
 ]Sroveml)er 4, announces its own removal fi-om 
 Watertown to the printing- office opposite the Court 
 House, in Queen street, and in its next issue, 
 Monday, ISTovember 11, states, " Saturday last, the 
 General Assembly of this State adjourn'd from 
 Watertown, to meet at the State House in this 
 Town, Tomorrow, at Ten o'clock." 
 
 The various State officials also returned to this 
 building, which continued in use as the State 
 House, for nearly twenty years. In 1780 the State 
 Constitution was adopted, and John Hancock, the 
 first govei'iior of the State, was installed here, to 
 the great delight of his fellow-townsmen. James 
 Bowdoin, Samuel Adams, and Increase Sumner, 
 succeeded Hancock, and ])resided in this chamber. 
 
 In 1782 a great reception was given in the 
 Council Chamber to the French fleet and army, 
 then returning to Europe. 
 
 On the 23d of April, 1783, tlic Proclamation t)f 
 
64 OLD STATE HOUSE EE-DEDICATION. 
 
 Peace was received here, " and the sheriff of the 
 County of Suffolk, Joseph Henderson, Esq., an- 
 nounced the same from the balcony of the State 
 House, at one o'clock, before which a large con- 
 course of the most respectable inhabitants of the 
 town were assembled, who demonstrated by three 
 loud huzzas, their joy upon this occasion. After 
 which, thirteen cannon, from the fortresses at the 
 Castle, and the same number at Fort Hill, were 
 tired." 
 
 In October, 1789, Washington visited Boston, 
 and reviewed the procession in his honor from a 
 balcony ei-ected from the centre window of the 
 Representatives' Hall. 
 
 Finally, the project of a new State House was 
 agitated, and the corner-stone thereof was laid 
 July 4, 1795, wdth Masonic honors. It was first 
 occupied by the Legislature on the 11th of Jan- 
 uary, 1798, when that august body marched in 
 procession from the Old State House to the 'New. 
 
 By the deed which now is exhibited on these 
 walls, the State transferred its ownership in half 
 of the building to the town of Boston in 1803. 
 ^ After the legislature had departed, the Town 
 House fell upon evil days. The town-meetings 
 were held in the enlarged Faneuil Hall, with which 
 we are familiar. The courts were transferred to 
 
OLD STATE HOUSE RE-DEDICATION. (35 
 
 what was called the Old Court House, a three- 
 story In-ick buildiug- ou C^)urt street, oecupjing- 
 the site of the oldest jail, aud uoav covered by the 
 east end of the Court House. Various uses were 
 made of the rooms; the lower part became stores, 
 a post-office, or an exchange, whilst the various 
 lodges of Freemasons occupied the upper floor. 
 A newspaper, " The Repository," was printed in 
 this room, in 1805. The exterior was little altered 
 save by the removal of the stairs at the east end, 
 and of the Lion and Unicorn from their places. 
 The Town Pum]3 seems also to have become prom- 
 inent at this time. 
 
 In 1830, the city, which had for some seven 
 years conducted its nmnicipal affairs very incon- 
 veniently at Faneuil Hall, awoke to the possibility 
 of utilizing this Iniilding as a City Hall. The 
 work of restoration was confided to Isaiah Rogers, 
 and he entrusted part of the details to a young 
 architect just beginning the series of works which 
 makes the name of William Washburn ftuniliar to 
 us. It was a time when classical types were in 
 vogue, and, therefore, the additions were patterned 
 on Grecian models. Heavy wooden porticos were 
 added at each end, and these halls on the second 
 floor were fitted to the uses of the City Council. 
 In this room the Aldermen met; in tlie Repre- 
 
66 OLD STATE HOUSE RE-DEDICATION. 
 
 sentatives' Hall the Common Council. "Around 
 the circular area of the stairs," and in the third 
 story, were the vai'ious city offices. This occu- 
 pancy, which lasted for ten years, until 1840, is 
 recollected by many of our citizens. 
 
 The building was, for a third time, put in peril, 
 when, on the 21st of ^N^ovember, 1832, the fire in 
 a building opposite was communicated to the roof 
 of this l^uilding, but, happily, was soon arrested. 
 Salmon's picture of the event is familiar to us all, 
 having been engraved on the diplomas of the Fire 
 Department. Surely we may say of the venerable 
 towei*, almost in Longfellow's words, — 
 
 " In the market-place of Bruges, stands the belfry old and brown, 
 Thrice consumed and thrice rebuilded, still it watches o'er the town." 
 
 After the removal of the City Hall to its School- 
 street site, this building was again abandoned to 
 business purposes, and, in the hands of successive 
 lessees, it rapidly deteriorated. A hideous mansard 
 roof disfigured its external lines ; new partitions 
 oljliterated for the time the fair proportions of these 
 halls ; signs, telegraph Avires and poles in countless 
 number contributed to the shameful defacement. 
 So completely were the memories of the site for- 
 gotten, and so arrogant were tlie f\incied demands 
 of commerce, that, in 1875, it was almost decided 
 
OLD STATE HOUSE RE-DEDICATIOX. f)7 
 
 to pull down the building. Happily better counsels 
 prevailed, and, in 1881, the City Council authorized 
 that work of restoration, which, on its completion, 
 is to-day submitted to your consideration, 
 
 A complete account of what has been done will 
 be submitted by the City Architect. It w^ill be. 
 enough to state at present, that we now Ijehold 
 substantially the same halls which echoed the elo- 
 quence of Adams, Quincy, Otis, and AYarren, and 
 wdiich witnessed the baffled intrigues of Hutchinson 
 and Oliyer, and the unsuccessful plans of (Tage 
 and Clinton, Howe and Burgoyne. 
 
 When in 1830, Harrison Gray Otis, then mayor 
 of the city, stood here to welcome the inaugui-ation 
 of his goyernment, he thus addressed the Council 
 in regard to this building : — 
 
 " It exhibits no poinp of architectural graudeur or refined taste, 
 aud has no pretensions to vie with the magnificent structures 
 of other countries or even of our own. Yet it is a goodly aud 
 venerable pile ; aud with recent iuiproveiueuts is an ornamcut 
 of the place, of whose liljerty it was once the citadel. And it 
 has an interest for Bostoniaus who enter it this day, like that 
 which is felt by grown children for an ancient matron b}' whom 
 they were reared, aud whom, visiting after years of absence, 
 they find in her ueat. chaste, old-fashioued attire, spruced up to 
 receive them, with her comforts about her, aud the same kind, 
 hospitable, and excellent creature whom they left in less flourish- 
 iug circumstances. But to this edifice there is not only a natural, 
 
68 OLD STATE HOUSE RE-DEDICATION. 
 
 but ' a spiritual bod}',' which is the immortal soul of Independ- 
 ence. Nor is there, on the face of the earth, another building, 
 however venerable for its antiquity, or stately in its maguificence, 
 however decorated by columns and porticos, and cartoons, and 
 statues and altars, and outshining the wealthy of Ormus or of 
 Ind, entitled in history to more honorable mention, or whose 
 spires and turrets are surrounded with more glorious halo than 
 this unpretending building. 
 
 " I refer you to the day when Independence, mature in age and 
 loveliness, advanced with angelic grace from the chamber in which 
 she was born into the same l)alcony, and holding in her hand the 
 immortal scroll on which her name and character and claims to 
 her inheritance were inscril)ed, received from the street, filled with 
 an impenetrable |)halanx, and windows glittering with a blaze of 
 beauty, the heartfelt homage and electrifying peals of men, 
 women, and children of the whole city. The splendor of that 
 glorious vision of my childhood seems to be now present to my view, 
 and the harmony of that universal concert to vibrate in my ear. 
 
 "We, gentlemen, have now become, for a short period, occu- 
 pants of this Temple of Liberty. Henceforth, for many years, 
 the City Government will probably be here administered. . . . 
 May we, and those who will succeed us, appreciate the respon- 
 sibleness attached to our places by the merit of our predecessors ; 
 and though we cannot serve our country to the same advantage, 
 may we love it with equal fidelity. And may the guardian genius 
 of our beloved city forever delight to dwell in these renovated 
 walls ! " 
 
 After the lapse of half a century we assemble to 
 renew these pious labors, and to repeat his fervent 
 prayers for their success; but the times are more 
 
OLD STATE HOUSE RE-DEDICATION. 69 
 
 propitious for us, since the present generation has 
 been taught anew the necessity of perpetually culti- 
 vating those patriotic virtues which alone can ani- 
 mate a nation in times of adversity. 
 
 Twenty years have passed since the assembled 
 citizens of Boston were again aroused, from the 
 balcony of this chamber, l^y the eloquence of those 
 speakers who uttered the cry, " To arms ! " 
 
 God grant that in our day that appeal may never 
 again be made; but should the necessity arise, it must 
 be made to a community which has been daily 
 familiar with the lessons taught by the memories of 
 these halls as well as of the '' Cradle of Liberty," — 
 Faneuil Hall. 
 
 "Here the child Independence was l)orn! " and 
 what untold glories in the future tliat birth por- 
 tended! The independence for which our fathers 
 fought was freedom of thought, speech, and action in 
 every land and in every generation. The chain 
 Avhich they broke was not simply that of Great 
 Britain over America, but the greater fetters of 
 usurped authority over the bodies and minds of 
 millions in other lands. To our success is to be 
 attributed whatever liberty has been achieved for the 
 suifering nations of Europe, or for the long-enslaved 
 victims of unwarrantable oppression in our own land. 
 I had thought I had recited all the stirring events 
 
70 OLD STATE HOUSE RE-DEDICATIOX. 
 
 connected with this building, but I pause to add that 
 it afforded a temporary shelter to William Lloyd 
 Garrison as he was unwillingly rescued from the 
 misguided rage of a pro-slavery mob. Let us rejoice 
 that we to-day can assert, that, among the results of 
 that Independence which was first proclaimed on this 
 spot, has been the purging of the Great Republic of 
 the anomalous stain and reproach of domestic 
 slavery. 
 
 And, surely, if we have, at so great cost of treasure 
 and blood, expiated our national sin, we may turn, 
 with expectant gaze, to our sister nations for a simi- 
 lar sacrifice. The independence which we inculcate 
 demands that, wherever, under any professed form of 
 law, the labor of the peasant profits only his master, 
 that iniquity shall cease, — whether it be in the 
 familiar case of L-eland, wdiose wrongs meet with so 
 prompt a response in kindred bosoms here, — or of 
 Russia, where the lurid torch of ISTihilism reveals 
 the misery of untold millions, — or wherever else the 
 wretched serf looks eagerly to the land of promise 
 on this side of the Atlantic. 
 
 Fellow-citizens, so long as we maintain the sacred 
 fires upon the altars, we may claim the right to be 
 especially favored by the divinity. I cannot allow 
 myself to dwell upon the possibility of any future 
 surrender of these walls to any purpose less appro- 
 
• OLD STATE HOUSE RE-DEDICATION. 71 
 
 priate than that we now celebrate. I cannot antici- 
 pate any deci-ease in the prosperity or the pubhc 
 spii'it of our beloved city. I can only predict that 
 future generations, for centuries to come, will visit 
 this spot and will remertiber us thankfully for what 
 we have this day done. 
 
 To you, Mr. Mayor, as the highest representative 
 of the city, I now ti'ansfer the care and custody of 
 the Old State House, felicitating you upon the hon- 
 orable duty, and congratulating the city that it 
 devolves upon one so well qualified, by assiduous 
 study, to appreciate the value of this acquisition. 
 
 At the concluj^ion of Mr. Wliitmore's address, His Honor 
 Mayor Green said : — 
 
 MAYOR GREEN'S REMARKS. 
 
 3fr. Chairman: — The Old State House to-day 
 comes back to the city, and as the chief executive 
 officer I greet the venerable structure with a warm 
 and hearty welcome. After an occupation of many 
 years for purposes of general business, these halls 
 are now to be used for the reception and preserva- 
 tion of historical objects of local interest. The com- 
 mittee of which you are at the head, Mr. Alderman, 
 having this matter in charge, deserve the thanks of 
 the communit}^, for the way in wliicli it has been 
 
72 OLD STATE HOUSE RE-DEDICATION. 
 
 done. I know full well that the work has fallen 
 largely on the shoulders of the Councilman who has 
 given us this morning liis inferesting and instructive 
 address, and it is through his untiring zeal as an 
 antiquary that this plan has been brought to a suc- 
 cessful issue. I sympathize most warmly with him 
 in . the exj^ression that the use we now give to these 
 halls may be the permanent one. He has told how 
 this building was erected as a town house, and 
 traced its history from the earliest days to the 
 present time. Its close connection with the various 
 political events of our city and State makes it a 
 conspicuous monument in our local annals. 
 
 The formal dedication of a public building is a 
 custom of comparatively modern times. The foun- 
 ders of 'New England were too busy to indulge in 
 mere formalities ; and even if they had the time, they 
 were apt to look upon such observances as idle and 
 frivolous. They regarded the various purposes to 
 which a Ijuilding was put as in themselves a sufficient 
 dedication; and for this reason they avoided any 
 special cei'emony to emphasize its objects or uses. 
 While it is true, then, that this structure was never 
 formally dedicated, it is equally true that it was con- 
 secrated by all that was high and noble in patriotic 
 service, through the words that were spoken and the 
 deeds that were inspired within its walls. 
 
OLD STATE HOUSE RE-DEDICATION. 73 
 
 The political town meeting is an outgrowth of 
 Xew England life, and it has been the very cradle of 
 American liberty and independence. It originated 
 with the first comers and has been kept up by their 
 successors till the present time. The freemen of the 
 several towns came together in public meeting to dis- 
 cuss and settle questions of general interest. They 
 chose town officers, to whom was delegated the 
 power to manage their civil as well as ecclesiastical 
 affairs. It was at such gatherings that a free and 
 full recognition of popular rights was first nuide in 
 this country, and the very foundation and corner- 
 stone of our present political system laid. The best 
 insight of the forces that developed local self-gov- 
 ernment is to be found in the action of such meet- 
 ings. The causes that l)rought al)out the separation 
 of the American colonies from the mother country 
 were ripening during many years, but they were kept 
 alive and active by these public assemblages. Bos- 
 ton was the largest and most influential town on the 
 continent, and was always ready to take the lead in 
 public aftairs. AVhen she spoke her voice was heard 
 with no doubtful sound, and she had all ^ew Eng- 
 land for an audience. Her utterances were given 
 from this l)uilding as well as from Faneuil Hall and 
 the Old South Meeting-house. These three struct- 
 ures are full of historical reminiscences and associa- 
 
74 OLD STATE HOUSE RE-DEDICATION. 
 
 tions, and I envy not the man who can approach 
 any one of them with ordinary feelings, Kude 
 thongh they are in external form they represent 
 in their traditions the highest form of rehgion 
 and patriotism, as understood by the framers of 
 our government. He Lacks some of the human 
 sensibihties whose heart is not thrilled, and whose 
 emotions are not quickened, when he enters their 
 portals. 
 
 I do not forget the fact that this building was 
 occupied by the municipal authorities during a period 
 of ten years. On Sept. 17, 1880, the two hundredth 
 anniversary of the settlement of Boston, the City 
 Government, under the Mayoralty of Harrison Gray 
 Otis, took possession of these apartments, and used 
 them until March 18, 1841. It was under this roof 
 that the administrations of Charles Wells, Theodore 
 Lyman, Samuel T. Armstrong, and Samuel A. Eliot 
 were carried on; and it was while Jonathan Chap- 
 man was Mayor that the city offices were again 
 removed to the City Hall, standing between Court 
 square and School street. Whatever ma}^ be the fate 
 of other public buildings, let us cherish the hope that 
 the Old State House may stand as a connecting link 
 between the provincial and national periods of our 
 country's history, and that it may continually remind 
 us of the unselfish devotion and hard struggles of 
 
OLD STATE HOUSE RE-DEDICATION. 75 
 
 the men who laid the foundation of our present gov- 
 ernment. 
 
 Alderman Hersey. — I recognize among our 
 honored guests to-day, the face and form of him 
 whose memory extends far back into the past, and 
 who, I know, can give us some personal reminis- 
 cences connected with this building. I allude to 
 the Hon. Marshall P. Wilder. 
 
 REMARKS OF HON. MARSHALL P. WILDER. 
 
 I did not expect, Mr. Mayor, and Mr. Chairman, 
 to be called upon here to say a single word to-day. 
 At my time of life, and under this oppressive heat, 
 my words must be very few. But I rejoice from the 
 bottom of my heart that I am al)le to be here on this 
 consecrated spot, and participate in the ceremony of 
 the restoration of the Old State House. 
 
 I say my words must be few; but I desire to 
 tender to His Honor the Mayor, and to the City 
 Government, the thanks of the Historic- Genealogi- 
 cal Society, in their behalf and in my own; I desire 
 to thank you for the wisdom of making the ap2)ro- 
 priation which has placed again, as we believe, much 
 in its old style, this building of former days ; and I 
 desire to thank Mr. Whitmore for his energetic, 
 enterprising, persistent, and successful labors in bring- 
 
76 OLD STATE HOUSE RE-DEDICATION. 
 
 iiig again into this form, this structure, so ancient, 
 and SO renowned in the history of this city, because 
 of the events, so graphically described by Mr. Whit- 
 more and His Honor the Mayor, which transpired 
 upon this spot. Here Independence drew its first 
 breath. This spot, now consecrated by the restora- 
 tion of this building, will perpetuate the history of 
 those men, who, more than any others, led in the 
 American revolution, and gave to the world the first 
 great, free, and independent nation on earth. 
 
 The work has l3een well accomplished. IN^othing 
 could be more appropriate ; and the pro^dsion made 
 for it by the City Government, I am sure you will 
 all say, could not have been more judiciously ex- 
 pended. For I hold that next to training the spirit 
 for the life eternal, there is no obligation more 
 solemn than that of perpetuating to future genera- 
 tions the principles and virtues of those noble men 
 who gave to the world this great repulDlic, — principles 
 and virtues upon which must ever rest the happiness 
 and pros]3erity of all our people. 
 
OLD STATE HOUSE RE-DEDICATION. 77 
 
 This ended the formal exercises. The followiiiijj letters, 
 addressed to the (liairiiian of the Committee, Alderman 
 Woolley, were not read, owing to his absence ; but they are 
 worthy of preservation in the history of the celebration : — 
 
 Commonwealth of INIassachusetts, 
 
 Executive Depaktment, July 8, 1882. 
 
 My dear Mr. Alderman : — I thauk yon for your khid invi- 
 tation to the Re-dedication of the Old State House, with its 
 interesting associations. I am unable to accept on account of 
 engagements at the same hour, but I beg to send my kindest 
 wishes for the occasion. 
 
 Ver}' truly yours, 
 
 JOHN D. LONG. 
 
 Wm. Woolley, Esq. 
 
 Navy Yard, Boston, 
 Commandant's Office, July 10, 1882. 
 Dear Sir : — I have had the honor of receiving your kind 
 invitation to attend at the Old State House to-morrow to partici- 
 pate in the ceremonies of the Re-dedication of that ancient and 
 interesting structure. I greatly regret that my health is such 
 that I will not be able to attend. 
 
 With many thanks to you, and to Mr. Whitmore, I have the 
 honor to l)e, 
 
 Very respectfully yours, 
 
 O. C. BADGER, 
 
 Commodore^ U.S.N. 
 
 William Woolley, Esq., 
 
 City Council, City Hall, Boston. 
 
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