PRELIMINARY PROCEEDINGS.

At a meeting of the Board of Aldermen, June 3, 1879, the following communication was received from the Mayor:

MAYOR'S OFFICE, CITY HALL,

BOSTON, June 3, 1879.

To the Honorable the City Council:

I herewith transmit a communication from Hon. Moses Kimball, for such action as may seem fit and proper.

FREDERICK O. PRINCE,

Mayor.

BOSTON, May 30, 1879.

His Honor F. O. Prince, Mayor of Boston:

DEAR SIR,Having Having engaged of Mr. Thomas Ball a cast in bronze of his colossal group, emblematical of Emancipation, the central figure of which is a representation of the late President Lincoln, I have the honor to present the same to the City of Boston, conditioned that I may place it upon the triangular lot at the junction of Columbus avenue, Park square, and Pleasant street, and that the city will cause the area to be suitably enclosed and annually cultivated with flowering plants and shrubs.

The group is to arrive some time in August next.

Respectfully yours, etc.,

MOSES KIMBALL.

On motion of Alderman Breck, the communication was referred to a joint special committee and the Mayor.

The chairman appointed Aldermen Charles H. B. Breck, Daniel D. Kelly, and Solomon B. Stebbins, on the committee.

The Common Council, June 5, concurred in the reference, and added to the committee Councilmen Henry W. Swift of Ward 9, Nathan Sawyer of Ward 18, Paul H. Kendricken of Ward 20, Oscar B. Mowry of Ward 11, and Benjamin F. Anthony of Ward 19.

The committee submitted the following report:

IN BOARD OF ALDERMEN, June 16, 1879.

The Joint Special Committee, to whom was referred the communication from the Honorable Moses Kimball, presenting to the city a bronze group emblematical of Emancipation, having considered the subject, respectfully recommend the passage of the following preamble, resolve, and orders.

For the Committee,

CHARLES H. B. BRECK,

Chairman.

Whereas, A communication has been received from the Honorable Moses Kimball, in which he tenders to the City of Boston the gift of a colossal group in bronze, emblematical of Emancipation, upon conditions that it be placed upon the lot of land at the junction of Columbus avenue, Park square, and Pleasant street, and that the city will cause the area to be suitably enclosed and annually cultivated with flowering plants and shrubs; it is, therefore, hereby

Resolved, That the thanks of the City Council, in behalf of the citizens of Boston, be conveyed to the Honorable

Moses Kimball, for the public spirit displayed in his costly and substantial gift to the city, which is hereby accepted upon the conditions attached to his offer.

Ordered, That the triangular lot of land situated at the junction of Columbus avenue, Park square, and Pleasant street be, and the same is hereby assigned for the location of said group.

Ordered, That the Committee on Common and Public Grounds be requested to take such action as may be necessary to cause the said lot to be put in order and enclosed with a suitable fence, in accordance with the terms of the gift.

The preamble, resolve, and orders were passed by the Board of Aldermen, and in concurrence, June 26, by the Common Council; June 28 they were approved by the Mayor.

August 4 Alderman Breck submitted the following to the Board of Aldermen :

The Committee on Common and Public Grounds, who were requested to cause the lot of land at the junction of Columbus avenue, Park square, and Pleasant street to be put in order, and enclosed with a suitable fence, in accordance with the terms of the gift of the Honorable Moses Kimball of the group emblematical of Emancipation, would respectfully report as follows: The committee have conferred with the City Architect, and he has furnished a design for a suitable fence and curb to be erected upon the aforesaid lot, and an estimate of the cost of the same, including the fencing and grading, amounting to $4,500. The committee are of the opinion that the cost of the above can be paid from the income of the Phillips Street-Fund, so called.

They respectfully recommend the passage of the accompanying order.

For the Committee,

HUGH O'BRIEN,

Chairman.

Ordered, That the Committee on Common and Public Grounds on the part of the Board of Aldermen be authorized to put in suitable order the lot of land at the junction of Columbus avenue, Park square, and Pleasant street, on which is to be placed the group emblematical of Emancipation, the gift to the city of the Honorable Moses Kimball, and to erect a fence and curb around the same; the cost, not exceeding $4,500, to be paid from the income of the Phillips Street-Fund.

The order was read twice and passed.

In the Common Council, September 25, 1879, Mr. Swift of Ward 9 offered an order: That the Committee of the Board of Aldermen on the Erection of the Statue of Josiah Quincy, and the Joint Special Committee in charge of the statue commemorating Emancipation, acting together, be authorized to make suitable arrangements for the dedication of both of said statues; the expense attending the same, not exceeding one thousand dollars, to be charged to the appropriation for Incidentals.

The order was passed, and the Board of Aldermen, September 29, concurred.

The committee having charge of the Quincy Statue were His Honor the Mayor, and Aldermen Joseph A. Tucker, Solomon B. Stebbins, and Daniel D. Kelley.

DESCRIPTION OF THE MONUMENT.

This work was conceived and executed by Mr. Ball, under the first influence of the news of Mr. Lincoln's assassination.

The original group was in Italian marble, and differs in some respects from the bronze group. In the original the kneeling slave is represented as perfectly passive, receiving the boon of freedom from the hand of the great liberator. But the artist justly changed this, to bring the presentation nearer to the historical fact, by making the emancipated slave an agent in his own deliverance. He is accordingly represented as exerting his own strength, with strained muscles, in breaking the chain which had bound him. A greater degree of dignity and vigor, as well as of historical accuracy, is thus imparted. The original was also changed by introducing, instead of an ideal slave, the figure of a living man, the last slave ever taken up in Missouri under the fugitive slave law, and who was rescued from his captors (who had transcended their legal authority) under the orders of the provost-marshal of St. Louis. His name was Archer Alexander, and his condition of servitude legally continued until emancipation was proclaimed and became the law of the land. A photographic picture was sent to Mr. Ball, who has given both the face and manly bearing of the negro. The ideal group is thus converted into the literal truth of history without losing anything of its artistic conception or effect.

The monument in Park square stands on a triangular plat