FAKMEES' IXSTITUTES. 307 



Whatever may be the characteristics of our age, certainly stagnation is not 

 one of them. An enhghtened spirit of inquiry is almost universally elicited. 

 The jirogress of the present century is not to be traced to a mere love of change, 

 but to a more S3^stematic course of observation, and an earnest desire to learn 

 whatever caii be known. This anxiety to learn is an essential element of prog- 

 ress. We are not going to erect these immense structures at Philadelphia and 

 Invite the nations from across the Atlantic and Pacific to come over and see 

 how big a spread we can make ; if we were to do this we should come out of 

 the undertaking as ignominiously as did ''Darius Green with his flying ma- 

 chine." We shall invite them to come hither believins: that while there are 

 some things they can learn from us, there are many things that we may learn 

 from them. We ask them to come and place their productions side by side with 

 each other and with ours, under the certaintv that each will have somethinc^ to 

 teach and all a great deal to learn, and knowmg also that universal progress 

 will be accelerated by collecting under one focus the materials, which shall 

 afford so grand an opportunity for the intelligent observation of men of learn- 

 ing, men of science, and men of practice, and knowing also that under such 

 circumstances there can not fail to be poured out upon that vast assembly rep- 

 resenting every nation under heaven such a measure of the spirit of honorable 

 rivalry as shall call forth their latent genius, and arouse whatever is dormant of 

 their industrial capacities. 



While international exhibitions exert an important influence in advancing all 

 that pertains to the highest forms of civilization, they are also the product of a 

 civilization already in many respects far in advance of anything that the world 

 has formerly known. Our ancestors were familiar with the idea of holding 

 fairs, but these fairs were very different in their nature and object from au 

 industrial exhibition. They were designed to facilitate the coming together of 

 buyers and sellers, and so to promote the interests of j^rivate individuals. They 

 were necessitated bv the want of an easv and extended method of communica- 

 tion. Au industrial exhibition like that to be held at Philadelphia, is the result 

 of the most extensive facilities of intercommunication. Without the steam 

 engine and its apiDlication to the transportation of the products of industry such 

 an industrial exhibition Avould be an impossibility. Thus, while it will exert an 

 imjiortant educational influence upon the nations participating in it, giving them 

 aspirations after higher achievements than they have yet attained, it is also a 

 result of great achievements in the past. 



In turning now to consider more specifically some of the benefits likely to be 

 ■derived from the Centennial exhibition, let us begin with the individual, grad- 

 ually widening our circle of vision to the State, to the nation, and to the great 

 inter-community of nations, the world. 



Suppose that you and I were to start off on a trip to Pliiladelphia some time 

 after the exhibition has fully commenced. We would go Avith all these preju- 

 dices about other nations, and inflated ideas about ourselves that we now have 

 just because we do not know any better. A great deal is said about national 

 pride and conceit. I do not think there is so much of that, but there is a great 

 deal of ignorance of other nations. It has been said of Charles Lamb that on 

 one occasion he was berating somebody most severely, and on being asked 

 whether he was personally acquainted with the individual, replied no ; certainly 

 not. If I were, I should undoubtedly think better of him. The average Amer- 

 ican has some prejudices to be overcome. He thinks of John Bull as a surly, 

 disagreeable sort of fellow who does not know half so much as he thinks he 



