GOVERNOR PERIIAM'S ADDRESS. jj 



have an idea that the declaration made some time since, which has 

 grown into a law, so to speak, that " Westward the course of 

 Empire takes its way," has of itself, by the very force which to a 

 certain extent lay in that declaration, had a tendency to take a 

 great many men away. We have accepted it as a matter of course 

 that empire must take its way towards the West. Now, to a cer- 

 tain extent, that is true ; to a certain extent it is proper. The 

 history of our country shows that this has been the case, and it 

 undoubtedly will be so, to a certain extent, in the future ; but if 

 the young men of this State could understand fully the resources 

 we have, if they could understand the hidden treasures waiting to 

 be developed within the borders of their own State, there would 

 not be so strong a tendency to go ; and I believe that this exodus 

 from our State grows more out of the fact that we have failed to 

 appreciate our own resources, and to employ the means to make 

 them contribute to our prosperity, than anything else. 



Now, what is the State of Maine ? I know it is regarded by a 

 great many as a State lying away out in the extreme northeast of 

 the country, a frozen region, very near "the jumping-off place," 

 where not much can be raised ; and good for little except to raise 

 men and women. We have proved that our State is good for 

 that, by the men and women we have sent into other parts of the 

 country. But I have an idea, that when we take* all its elements 



into consideration, we shall find that Maine, even, is, to some 



» 



extent, a favored land. We are located on the borders of a rich, 

 although a foreign country. This State has become the thorough- 

 fare through which a large amount of business between England 

 and the Provinces, north and south, from Portland to Montreal, is 

 being done. It is soon to become the highway through which is 

 to pass a large amount of travel, and some of the freight, at least, 

 between Europe and the western portion of this continent. The 

 road just completed through this State, extending now to St. 

 John, and soon to go as far as Halifax, must become a great 

 thoroughfare, through which will flow a very large part of the 

 travel between the western part of this country and Europe. It 

 cannot possibly be otherwise. 



In our sea-coast, we have very great advantages. Every one 

 who has traced the map, or who has gone along our borders, must 

 have been struck with the fact that our sea-coast makes deep in- 

 dentations, — in sorffe places ouu harbors penetrating almost to the 



