28 BANQUET TO THE 



The Hon. Alexander H. Rice, Ex-Governor of Massa- 

 chusetts, spoke in behalf of the merchants of Boston : — 



Mr. President, and Gentlemen, — I esteem it a 

 great privilege, as well as a great pleasure, to come 

 here this evening and participate in these well-earned 

 honors to our venerable and esteemed fellow-citizen. 

 He stands alone in years and in vigorous activity 

 united ; and thus the tribute to him must be distinc- 

 tive, personal, and emphatic. In the address from 

 him to which we have just listened, so full of wonder- 

 ful reminiscence, so full of moving pathos, he has told 

 us that he is the oldest living merchant, bank direc- 

 tor, and underwriter now in active service in Boston ; 

 that he looks back to the days when the trade of the 

 city, though large for the time, was but the beginning 

 of the vast bulk represented in the mercantile trans- 

 actions of modern times. He has told us, too, that 

 his participation in affairs antedates the building 

 of steamboats, railroads, and other rapid means of 

 communication, and runs back to the simplicity 

 of a period immediately succeeding the colonial 

 davs, and before the forces of Nature had been so 

 largely harnessed into the service of men. 



That was an interesting year in which to have been 

 born, whose eighty-fifth anniversary we are now cele- 



