In testimony of the Magistrates' and Council's respect for him as an enlightened statesman, of their admiration of his active and generous philanthropy, and of their gratitude for his services in promoting the social and intellectual elevation of the people.
"That separate monarchy and that separate legislature have long passed away, but the city of Edinburgh has some kinds of royalty which can never depart from her. She can never lay aside from her brow that diadem of natural beauty in which she sits enthroned upon her native rock, looking at the sparkling estuary at her feet and the encircling hills around her. She can never divest herself of those princely appanages which architectural art, in combination with public patronage and with private benevolence, has spread in splendid profusion among her picturesque outlines and her commanding sites. And above all she still retains that sovereignty of intellect which she has derived from a long series of philosophers, orators, poets and divines, and which still glows with copious lustre amidst her schools, her chairs, her press, her forum and her pulpits. My Lord and gentlemen, I have no need to reiterate to you that I feel no common gratitude at having been made a citizen of such a truly royal community."