THE GREAT BRIDGE AND ITS LESSONS. 353 



if it be exercised, the will of the community can never be paralyzed. 

 Our safety and our success rest on the ballot in the hands of freemen 

 at the polls, deliberately deposited, never for an unworthy man, but 

 always with a profound sense of the responsibility which should govern 

 every citizen in the exercise of this fundamental right. 



If the lesson of the bridge, which I have thus sought to enforce, 

 shall revive the confidence of the people in their own power, and in- 

 duce them to use it practically for the election of good men to office, 

 then indeed will its completion be a public blessing worthy of the 

 new era of industrial development in which it is our fortunate lot to 

 live. 



Great indeed has been our national progress. Perhaps we, who 

 belong to a commercial community, do not fully realize its significance 

 and promise. We buy and sell stocks, without stopping to think that 

 they represent the most astonishing achievements of enterprise and 

 skill in the magical extension of our vast railway system ; we specu- 

 late in wheat, without reflecting on the stupendous fact that the plains 

 of Dakota and California are feeding hungry mouths in Europe ; we 

 hear that the Treasury has made a call for bonds, and forget that the 

 rapid extinction of our national debt is a proof of our prosperity and 

 patriotism, as wonderful to the world as was the power we exhibited 

 in the struggle which left that apparently crushing burden upon us. 

 If, then, we deal successfully with the evils which threaten our po- 

 litical life, who can venture to predict the limits of our future wealth 

 and glory wealth that shall enrich all ; glory that shall be no selfish 

 heritage, but the blessing of mankind ? Beyond all legends of Ori- 

 ental treasure, beyond all dreams of the golden age, will be the splen- 

 dor, and majesty, and happiness of the free people dwelling upon this 

 fair domain, if, as may be fairly anticipated, they shall then have 

 learned how to make equitable distribution among themselves of the 

 fruits of their common labor. As our own Bryant sang as long ago 

 as 1821 : 



" Here the free spirit of mankind at length 



Throws its last fetters off; and who shall place 



A limit to the giant's untamed strength, 



Or curb its swiftness in the forward race ! 



Far, like the comet's way, through infinite space, 



Stretches the long, untraveled path of light 



Into the depths of ages ; we may trace 



Distant, the brightening glory of its flight, 

 Till the receding rays are lost to human sight." 



At the ocean gateway of such a nation, well may stand the stately 

 figure of " Liberty enlightening the World " ; and, in hope and faith, 

 as well as gratitude, we write upon the towers of our beautiful bridge, 

 to be illuminated by her electric ray, the words of exultation, Finis 

 coronat opus. 



TOL. xxm. 23 



