The chamber over the market became the seat of public offices, and, as the Town Hall, was in demand for patriotic celebrations, debates and banquets. In 1761, all of the structure except the walls was destroyed by fire. As no benevolent townsman offered to duplicate Faneuil’s gift, the selectmen were empowered to raise the necessary funds for rebuilding by holding a lottery. “Faneuil Hall Lottery Tickets” bore the signature of John Hancock, then a young politician of promise. In 1763 the reconstructed Town Hall was ready for occupancy. It was this rebuilt meeting-place that became the forum of free speech in Boston, the Altar of Liberty from which rose the flame that “roused a depressed people from want and degradation. Here those maxims of political truth which have extended an influence over the habitable globe, and have given rise to new republics, were first promulgated.” The Stamp Act (1765) was denounced within its arched and pillared walls, and the repeal celebrated with festivities. Revenue laws were discussed, and when troops were ordered to the provincial capital, a convention in session here raised a fearless voice in defence of Colonial independence. The day following the massacre of the fifth of March, 1770, a mass meeting was called in the Hall, but so many citizens responded that it was necessary to repair to Old South Church, where there was more room. Early in November, 1773, John Hancock presided over a Town Hall meeting, the object of which was to protest against threatened importations of tea by the East India Company of London. At numerous conclaves the tea question continued to agitate the grave townsfolk, until on December sixteenth a group of patriots in the disguise of Indians summarily put an end to discussion by dumping the cargoes of the newly-arrived tea ships into Boston harbor. Faneuil Hall echoed to vigorous protests against the Port Bill, which so vitally affected Boston commerce, and from the same “Old Faneuil” printed letters were dispatched to the other colonies for the purpose of presenting facts and securing coöperation against proposed aggressions by the mother country. At Faneuil Hall representatives of General Gage assembled one tragic day to receive the arms of the Bostonians. In joyous contrast were the meetings held in the honored edifice after the evacuation of the city by British troops. French naval officers and the Marquis de Lafayette were feasted here; two presidents, George Washington and John Adams, were guests of honor at Faneuil Hall banquets; and in 1793 the execution of Louis XVI was celebrated by sons of freedom who sympathized with the French Revolutionists.