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,—I hope you will not find fault with me for saying that I stand before you a proud man, and you are responsible for it. When I received your invitation to this dinner, and read the names of its signers,—among them poets who have charmed the minds and become dear to the hearts of all civilized mankind, men of science, scholars, publicists, ministers, leaders of thought, of commerce, and of industry, ornaments and illustrations of this renowned old Commonwealth; and when I considered that, in an expression of approval and confidence like this, votes are not only counted but weighed, and that this demonstration came to me, not as to one clothed with power and authority, but at the moment of my return to private life,—I felt that I was honored in a measure falling to the lot of not many men. That I heartily thank you for this extraordinary honor is saying but little, and I am only troubled by a doubt as to how I can have deserved it all. I may say, at least, that I am conscious of having earnestly and faithfully endeavored to do so.

This is not the first time I have received great kindness at the hands of citizens of Massachusetts. Twenty-two years ago, a young and obscure newcomer in this republic, as some of my friends here