100 TRANSACTIONS OF THE SOCIETY, 



I regret that I am so little able to thank you in a proper manner. I 

 have been so lately rocking upon the Atlantic, whose lullaby is not always 

 of the gentlest, that I am hardly fit for a rocking in the " Old Cradle of 

 Liberty," to which your kind note of this morning invited me. I almost 

 unconsciously catch at the table to steady myself, expecting that the flow- 

 ers and fruits will fetch away in some lee lurch ; and even the pillars of 

 Old Faneuil Hall, not often found out of the true plumb line, seem to reel 

 over my head. But as I look around and behold so many well-remember- 

 ed countenances, and as I listen to the friendly cheers with which you are 

 so kind as to receive the announcement of my name, I feel at length that 

 I am indeed at home. 



Something of this grateful feeling has been, for some days, growing upon 

 my mind. We seemed almost to have reached the goal, when we found 

 ourselves, a week ago, on the edge of the Grand Bank ; we were in sound- 

 ings in American waters, and in the ancient and favorite field of New 

 England industry. The shores of Newfoundland and Nova Scotia, as we 

 coasted along them, seemed to have a claim upon us as a part of our na- 

 tive continent, and made us feel that we had at length crossed the world- 

 dividing deep ; and when, about sunrise this morning, after stretching 

 down from Halifax against a stiff southwester, I beheld Cape Ann light- 

 house, at a dim and misty distance, I must say that I thought it one of the 

 most beautiful pieces of architecture I ever beheld. I do not know to what 

 particular order it belongs, nor the proportion of the height to the diameter. 

 And as to the ornaments of the capital, Mr. President, whether they are 

 acanthus or lotus, or any other flower in your conservatory, I am quite un- 

 able to say ; but this I will say, that after seeing many of the finest build- 

 ings in the old world and the new, I came to the conclusion, at about six 

 o'clock this morning, that Cape Ann lighthouse beat them all. (Great ap- 

 plause.) 



It would be impossible, sir, to describe the emotions awakened in my 

 mind by the different objects on the well-known coast, as we dashed rapidly 

 up the bay, borne on the iron wings of steam, till at last the welcome 

 sight of Boston burst upon me, as she sits enthroned between her sister 

 heights, presenting to me, as it were, within her family embrace and im- 

 mediate vicinage, every spot most dear to a man on earth, — the place of 

 my birth and the haunts of my childhood, the scenes of my education and 

 early life, the resting-place of my fathers, — every thing, in short, which a 

 tender and dutiful patriotism comprehends in the sacred name of home. 



Ladies and Gentlemen, I cannot say much to you this evening. I need 

 repo.se, bodily and mental, and would gladly find it in listening to the elo- 

 quent voices of those around me. Some painful feelings crowd upon me. 

 I heard at Halifax the mournful news of an event which has deprived us 

 this evening of the presence of one, whose countenance was the light of 



