ANNUAL ADDKESS. 267 



had attained. " With such a people as the settlers and revolu- 

 tionists of this country, with their political culture and experi- 

 ence, their knowledge of the nature and ends of government, 

 and their education and religious temper, colonial dependence 

 was an impossibility, and this free government a simple necessi- 

 ty — the natural fruit of a natural growth. The boy had grown 

 to be a man, and if the obstinate old father, respectfully asked, 

 would not give him a freedom suit, there was but one course left 

 for him, and that was to take it," — and tnke it he did, and has 

 worn it ever since ; though many will have it, that it hangs rather 

 loosely on him at the present day ! 



Not only in the departments to which I have briefly alluded, 

 but in all others — in the departments of art and science, of phi- 

 losophy and religion, the law of growth and of progressive de- 

 velopment, prevails and governs. The steamboat, the railroad, 

 the power press, the telegraph, the daily newspaper, the thresh- 

 ing machine, the reaper, and the baby jumper, — all are the results 

 of the operation of this law. 



This law, too, has had something to do with the settlement 

 and growth of the mighty Valley of the Mississippi. Under its 

 operations, vast changes have been wrought, and are taking 

 place continually. Look out, over this broad western land, and 

 behold it inhabited, where but a few years ago the wild deer 

 stalked, the ferocious wolf prowled, and the wild Indian roamed 

 the savage monarch of all. From the rugged shores and the 

 mountains and valleys of New England — from the proud old 

 Empire State — from the sunny South — from the British Islands 

 across the seas, and from far-off "Fatherland," we have come to 

 people the solitudes beyond the great lakes. The forests have 

 been swept away, the rich mould of the prairie turned up by the 

 busy plow, towns and cities builded, railroads constructed, a 

 large and prosperous commerce established, and the foundations 

 of wealth and greatness laid deep and strong. 



As an example and evidence of the change which a few years 

 only have wrought throughout the length and breadth of our 

 new State, with a few exceptions, look out upon this young and 

 vigorous city, with its beauty of location, its stately business 



