REMARKS OF HON. HARYEY BALDWIN. 



Mr. President and Gentlemen of the Society: 



After the very able and eloquent addresses to which we have 

 all listened with so much profit and delight, it would seem to be 

 the work, not only of supererogation, but of downright presump- 

 tion, to attempt too add a single word or syllable; and yet so 

 impressed am I with the importance of the occasion, that I can 

 not forbear to lay upon the approving altar my humble tribute. 

 From the earliest history of man to the present time, whether in 

 his savage or civilized state, has it been customary to erect and 

 dedicate buildings to public use; and these, in their number and 

 character, have ever marked, and will ever continue to mark, 

 his progress in civilization. The simple habits of the savage 

 require only the council house, constructed of the rudest mate- 

 rial and in the rudest manner, for the assembling of their chiefs 

 and the transaction of their public business; and the solitude, 

 the dark shades of the deep forest canopied by high Heaven, 

 serve him as a temple for the worship of the Great Spirit. 

 While man, civilized and christianized man, requires the scliool 

 house, the academy, the college, the State house, with all its 

 concomitant structures, and spacious churches witli their tall 

 spires pointing heavenward, for the adoration and worship of the 

 Ever Living God. 



The spot on which we stand, the scenes by which we are 

 surrounded, this time-honored city, illustrate the truth of 

 these remarks. On yonder proud eminciirc stands our ancient 

 Cai>it<»l, over whose lofty spire and dome lloat, wIutc may they 

 ever float, our glorious stripes and stars; wliile in front that 

 magnificent marble structure, of just and beautiful proportions, 

 serves for tlie accommodation of all the oilier branches of govern- 

 ment, save only that which has been so long neglected, and which 

 is the }>arent of them all. Strange indeed is this neglect, the 



[Ag. Trans.J F 



