nor Holland, nor constitutional England, can boast the rival. "A character of virtues so happily tempered by one another," (I use the language of Charles James Fox,)" and so wholly unalloyed by any vices, is hardly to be found on the pages of history."

It is delightful to witness the generous recognition of Washington's merit, even in countries where from political reasons some backwardness in that respect might have been anticipated. Notwithstanding his leading agency in wresting a colonial empire from Great Britain, England was not slow to appreciate the grandeur and beauty of his character. Rufus King, writing to General Hamilton in 1797, says: "No one who has not been in England can have a just idea of the admiration expressed among all parties for General Washington. It is a common observation, that he is not only the most illustrious but the most meritorious character which has yet appeared." Nor was France behind England in her admiration of Washington. Notwithstanding the

uneasy relations of the two countries at the time of his decease, when the news of his death reached Paris, the youthful and fortunate soldier, who had already reached the summit of power by paths which Washington could never have trod, commanded the highest honors to be paid to him. A solemn funeral service was performed in the "Invalids," in the presence of all that was most eminent in Paris. "A sorrowful cry," said Fontanes, the orator chosen by Napoleon for the occasion, "has reached us from America, which he liberated. It belongs to France to yield the first response to the lamentation which will be echoed by every great soul. These august arches have been well chosen for the apothesis of a hero."

How often, in those wild scenes of her revolution, when the best blood of France was shed by the remorseless and ephemeral tyrants, who chased each other dagger in hand across that dismal stage of crime and wo, during the reign of terror, how often did the thoughts of Lafayette and his companions in arms who had fought the battles of

constitutional liberty in America call up the image of the pure, the just, the humane, the unambitious Washington! How different would have been the fate of France, if her victorious chieftain, when he had reached the giddy heights of power, had imitated the great example which he eulogized! He might have saved his country from being crushed by the leagued hosts of Europe; he might have prevented the names of Moscow and Waterloo from being written in letters of blood on the pages of history; he might have escaped himself from the sad significance of those memorable words of Fontanes, on the occasion to which I have alluded, when, in the presence of Napoleon he spoke of Washington as a man, who, "by a destiny seldom shared by those who change the fate of empires, died in peace as a private citizen, in his native land, where he had held the first rank, and which he had himself made free."

How different would have been the fate of Spain, of Naples, of Greece, of Germany, of Mexico and the South American Republics had their recent revolutions been conducted by men like Washington and his patriotic associates, whose prudence, patriotism, probity and disinterestedness conducted our revolution to an auspicious and honorable result.

But it is of course at home that we must look for an adequate appreciation of our Washington's name and worth. He is the friend of other countries; he is the father of his own. I own, Mr. Mayor, that it has been to me a source of inexpressible satisfaction to find, amidst all the bitter dissensions of the day, that this one grand sentiment—veneration for the name of Washington-is planted down in the very depths of the American heart. It has been my privilege, within the last two years, to hold it up to the reverend contemplation of my countrymen, from the banks of the Penobscot to the banks of the Savannah, from New York to St. Louis, from Chesapeake Bay to Lake Michigan, and the same sentiments, expressed in the same words, have every

where touched the same sympathetic chord in the American heart.

To that central attraction, I have been delighted to find the thoughts, the affections, the memories of the people, in whatever part of the country, from the ocean to the prairies of the West; from the land of granite and ice to the land of the palmetto and the magnolia—instinctively turn. They have their sectional loves and hatreds, but before the dear name of Washington, they are absorbed and forgotten. In whatever region of the country, the heart of patriotism warms to him; as in the starry heavens, with the circling of the seasons, the pointers go round the sphere, but their direction is ever toward the pole. "They may point from the East, they may point from the West, but they will point to the Northern star." It is not the brightest star in the heavens, as men account brightness, but it is always in its place. The meteor, kindled into momentary blaze from the rank vapors of the lower sky, is brighter. The comet is brighter that streams across the firmament,

"And from his horrid hair,

Shakes pestilence and war."

But the meteor explodes; the comet rushes back to the depths of the heavens; while the load-star shines steady at the pole, alike in summer and in winter, in seed time and in harvest, at the equinox and the solstice. It shone for Columbus at the discovery of America; it shone for the pioneers of settlement, the pilgrims of faith and hope at Jamestown and Plymouth; it will shine for the mariner who shall enter your harbor to-night; it will shine for the navies which shall bear the sleeping thunders of your power while the flag of the Union shall brave the battle and the brezee. So, too, the character, the counsels, the example of our Washington, of which you bid me speak; he guided our fathers through the storms of the Revolution; he will guide us through the doubts and difficulties that beset us;

he will guide our children and our children's children in the paths of prosperity and peace, while America shall hold her place in the family of nations.

The fourth regular toast:—

The Judiciary-The sheet-anchor of the Ship of State; may it ever take firm hold in the hearts of the people.

SPEECH OF JUDGE SANGER.

JUDGE SANGER, of the Court of Common Pleas, having been called to respond in behalf of the Judiciary, said :—

Both for the subject matter of the sentiment and for those who have been, with myself, attentive and delighted listeners to the eloquent speech just delivered, it is to be regretted that it has not fallen to the lot of some member of that Supreme Court whose learning and whose weight of personal character have established that tribunal in the hearts of the people of this Commonwealth, and have added lustre to the Commonwealth itself, to answer to this sentiment. And now that those eloquent lips have just been closed-lips whose feeblest accents always thrill to the heart-I feel it almost impossible to say a word. But I have been called upon, and must respond to the sentiment.

I do not propose to eulogize the Judiciary of Massachusetts. The occasion neither permits nor requires it. But I would speak of the aid which the Judiciary lends to the administration of the law. In this respect, perhaps, more honor has been awarded to it than it can justly claim.

While we speak of the Judiciary as the directing and controlling power, we often attribute to it the undivided honor and responsibility. But it must be remembered that it has not an undivided honor and responsibility; that there are others who share the honors that cluster around the responsibility that attaches to its decisions. We all know that when the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court gives a decision upon an abstract question, the annunciation of the decision falls unheeded, unless by the application of the law

to facts, the popular pulse is struck and feeling is excited. It seems to me that when the law is applied to the facts, it is then that the honor is due and the responsibility attaches. Now while the judges do this but rarely, there is a body of men who do it every day—the jury-who under our constitution and laws apply the law to the facts; and it is the jury who should share the honor and divide the responsibility.

He concluded with the following sentiment:

The Jury List-In theory composed of men of the best intellect, intelligence, and integrity in the various walks of life, who well and truly try the issue according to the evidence. Let the people see to it that the fact corresponds to the theory.

Fifth regular toast:—

The Union of the States-Around it cluster the most glorious associations of our history; in it the hopes of humanity are involved; for it, religious liberty and conscience plead; and beyond all, upon it, in its riper years as in its infancy, the protection of God rests, a sheltering cloud for its fiercer day and a pillar of fire in its darker night.

SPEECH OF THE HON. AMOS A. LAWRENCE.

Hon. AMOS A. LAWRENCE being called upon to respond, said the call was unexpected, but he held to the doctrine that any Massachusetts man who cannot respond to a sentiment in honor of the union of the States, and at the moment, is no American at all. In looking over some old papers the other day to ascertain what had been done in times past in this hall on the occasion of this anniversary, he found that after the President of the United States, "their majesties the King and Queen of France" were toasted. What a toast, he said, was this for an American celebration. That unpatriotic order was introduced because party politics had been introduced into the celebration of the day, and at a time when politics ran high.

These celebrations have improved since then; but he was sorry to hear that to-day that improvement has been checked by an effort to make a party celebration, and which for the honor of this city he trusted would never be made again.