sion, and for the many other hospitalities and kindnesses, public and private, which we have all received at your hands in time past; and let me relieve your patience, without further delay, by proposing to the company as a sentiment,

"The City of Washington, and its accomplished and excellent Mayor, Mr. Seaton."

REPLY TO A VOTE OF THANKS.

A SPEECH DELIVERED IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE UNITED STATES, ON THE FINAL ADJOURNMENT OF THE THIRTIETH CONGRESS, MARCH, 4, 1849.

GENTLEMEN OF THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES,

The hour has arrived which terminates our relations to the country, and our relations to each other, as members of the Thirtieth Congress; and you have already pronounced the word which puts an end at once to my vocation and to your own.

But neither the usage of the occasion, nor my own feelings, will allow me to leave the Chair, without a word of acknowledgment, and a word of farewell, to those with whom I have been so long associated, and by whom I have been so highly honored.

Certainly, gentlemen, I should subject myself to a charge of great ingratitude, were I not to thank you for the Resolution in reference to my official services, which you have placed upon the records within a few hours past.

Such a resolution, I need not say, is the most precious testimonial which any presiding officer can receive, and affords the richest remuneration for any labors which it may have cost.

It did not require, however, this formal tribute at your hands, to furnish me with an occasion of grateful acknowledgment to you all. I am deeply sensible, that no intentions, however honest, and no efforts, however earnest, could have carried me safely and successfully through with the duties which have been imposed upon me, had I not been seconded and sustained, from first to last, by your kind coöperation and friendly forbearance.

I beg you, then, to receive my most hearty thanks, not merely for so generous an appreciation of my services, but for the uni

form courtesy and confidence which you have manifested towards me, during my whole official term, and which have done so much to lighten the labors and relieve the responsibilities which are inseparable from the Chair of this House. I can honestly say, that I have endeavored, to the best of my ability, to fulfil the pledges with which I entered upon this arduous station, and to discharge its complicated and difficult duties without partiality and without prejudice. Nor am I conscious of having given just cause of imputation or offence to any member of the House. If there be one, however, towards whom I have seemed, at any moment, to exhibit any thing of injustice, or any thing of impatience, I freely offer him the only reparation in my power, in this public expression of my sincere regret.

We have been associated, gentlemen, during a most eventful period in the history of our country and of the world. It would be difficult to designate another era in the modern annals of mankind, which has been signalized by so rapid a succession of startling political changes. Let us rejoice that while the powers of the earth have almost everywhere else been shaken, that while more than one of the mightiest monarchies and stateliest empires of Europe have tottered or have fallen,-our own American Republic has stood firm. Let us rejoice at the evidence which has thus been furnished to the friends of liberty throughout the world, of the inherent stability of institutions, which are founded on the rock of a written constitution, and which are sustained by the will of a free and intelligent people. And let us hope and trust-as I, for one, most fervently and confidently do that, by the blessing of God, upon prudent, conciliatory, and patriotic counsels, every cause of domestic dissension and fraternal discord may be speedily done away, and that the States and the people, whose representatives we are, may be bound together forever in a firm, cordial, and indissoluble Union.

Offering once more to you all, my most grateful acknowledgments of your kindness, and my best wishes for your individual health and happiness, I proceed to the performance of the only duty which remains to me, by announcing, as I now do, That the House of Representatives of the United States stands adjourned, sine die.

NOTE.

INVITATION TO A PUBLIC DINNER.

BOSTON, August 28, 1848.

66

DEAR SIR: A large number of Whigs, of the Suffolk Congressional District, among your strongest personal and political friends, " entertaining a high respect for the character and abilities of their distinguished Representative in Congress, and a deep sense of gratitude for the services which he has rendered, and the honor he has reflected upon the State and the Union, by his faithful and successful discharge of the arduous duties of Speaker of the House of Representatives, during a long and laborious session," have requested us to tender you, in their behalf, a public dinner, at such time and place as may be most agreeable to you.

Joining, to that of our friends, our own earnest and sincere desire that you may find it convenient to accede to their request,

We are, with considerations of high regard,

GENTLEMEN : Absence from home prevented me from receiving your most

obliging communication of the 28th ult., until a late day.

I hasten now to acknowledge it, and to assure you of my deep sensibility to the compliment which it contains.

I have, indeed, been called to the discharge of "arduous duties during a long and laborious session" of Congress. It would not be easy to overestimate the labors which belong to the office of Speaker of the House of Representatives of the United States. Nothing could afford me higher satisfaction than to know, that, in the judgment of the personal and political friends whom you represent, my performance of the duties of that office has been faithful and successful, and that it has reflected no dishonor, either on our own Commonwealth, or on the Country at large.

Such an expression, I need hardly say, is peculiarly welcome to me from my immediate constituents, — implying, as it does, that they have not been extreme to note any inattention to their local interests, which may have resulted from the engrossing character of the duties of the Chair.

Boston has been accustomed to no common services in the National Councils. Few Districts in the Union can point to such a succession of distinguished and devoted Representatives. Fisher Ames, Harrison Gray Otis, William Eustis, Josiah Quincy, Artemas Ward, James Lloyd, Jonathan Mason, Benjamin Gorham, Daniel Webster, Nathan Appleton, Abbott Lawrence, Richard Fletcher; - this is, indeed, a catalogue of stars, to which any one may be proud to have been added.

If, on retiring from office, at the close of my present term, when I shall have represented the people of Boston in Congress longer than any one of my predecessors, since the adoption of the Constitution, my name shall not be thought unworthy of some humble association, in the kind regards of my fellow citizens, with the names of these eminent men, the measure of my political ambition will be full.

Be pleased to communicate to those, in whose behalf you have addressed me, my cordial thanks for the honor which they have done me, and to assure them, that while I decline to be made the subject of any ceremonious entertainment, I shall always cherish the most grateful remembrance of their courtesy and kind

ness.

I am, gentlemen, with the highest respect and esteem,

Hon. Abbott Lawrence, and others.

Your faithful friend and servant,

ROBERT C. WINTHROP.

LETTER ΤΟ THE WHIG NOMINATING CONVENTION, DECLINING Α RE

ELECTION.

BOSTON, October 9th, 1848.

GENTLEMEN: I have the honor to acknowledge your obliging communication of the 5th instant, informing me that I have been nominated, unanimously and by acclamation, as a candidate for reëlection to Congress.