6 



ish us of the fact that the time was rapidly approaching 

 when we must dispose of our property here. 



In the year 1870 the Legislature created a Building 

 Commission for the purpose of erecting a City Hall 

 on Penn Square, and they connected with that enact- 

 ment a provision that when those buildings were com- 

 pleted the Building Commission should remove from 

 this beloved square all the buildings standing upon it 

 except the venerable State House, Independence Hall, 

 supposing that would be a sufficient monument to per- 

 petuate all the patriotic thoughts clustering about the 

 city of Philadelphia. 



I feel embarrassed when I have to talk of our part- 

 ing with our ancient home. It is associated in my mind 

 with so much pleasure, with so much instruction, that 

 perhaps I ought to hope that I may not live to see the 

 Society part with it. But there are considerations 

 connected with this subject which I think ought to 

 weigh with the members -of the Society, when they 

 consider the vast amount of precious treasures that 

 we have accumulated here in the shape of our library, 

 our collections, our manuscripts, our portraits, and so 

 many things of which all feel pride in the possession. 

 We have a building fund slowly accumulating, which, 

 in time, independently of the sale of this property, 

 might provide for the erection of a fire-proof build- 

 ing, and we ought, perhaps, to look a little beyond 

 our own immediate wants and ascertain, when the time 

 of removal comes, whether there are not kindred asso- 

 ciations in the city of Philadelphia with which we could 

 unite in erecting a temple to useful knowledge, to the 

 fine arts, to the mechanic arts, and to all those arts which 

 contribute to the happiness and welfare of mankind. 



