PULSIFER, ROLAND WORTHINGTON, JOHN G. BLAKE, M.D., J. H. CHADWICK,
LEWIS COLEMAN.

SECRETARIES.

HAMILTON A. HILL. WILLIAM E. PERKINS.

The list of names was unanimously approved; and the announcement of the
election of the gentlemen named therein was received with applause.

Mr. CANDLER continued, I have the honor of introducing to you JOSEPH S.
ROPES, Esq., a merchant of Boston, who has been called to fill a great
many places of trust, and who has always been found able in the
discharge of every duty, and faithful in every trust committed to him.

SPEECH OF MR. JOSEPH S. ROPES.

FELLOW-CITIZENS,--I thank you for the honor you have done me in inviting
me to preside on this auspicious occasion. You have come together
to-night, not to quarrel with one another's politics, not to abuse one
another's rival candidates, but to hold a friendly consultation upon one
of the most important and interesting and agreeable subjects which can
engage your attention,--the subject of public parks for the city of
Boston. [Applause.]

Gentlemen, I was born in Boston; and I well remember the time when our
cows were pastured on Boston Common, when the Back Bay was not a myth,
but a reality, and when at least a portion of the summit of Beacon Hill
was covered with green fields, on which were seen sometimes "raree
shows" and travelling menageries. Since that time, our city has grown
and swelled, and stretched itself north and south, and east and west,
striding over one arm of the sea, filling up another, swallowing the
neighboring towns one by one, taking two mouthfuls for Roxbury, and one
for Dorchester, and one for Charlestown and Brighton together, until it
has expanded its population sevenfold, and its area almost seventy times
seven, within fifty years. Yet there stands Boston Common just where and
just what it was--no larger, and thank heaven! as yet no smaller [loud
applause]--than it was fifty years ago.

Where are the breathing-places for this enlarged metropolis? Where are
the places of common resort for quiet and healthful enjoyment and
peaceful recreation for this expanded population? Where are the noble
parks and the wide-spreading groves? Where are the places fit for public
entertainment, which we find in every other large city in the civilized
world?--such as we see in London and Paris and Berlin and Vienna and
Florence and Rome and Naples--yes, even fo