n 



perienced. Let no man suppose that they entered blindly 

 upon then* work. They advanced to their duties with 

 perfect understanding, and with a well-defined purpose 

 and strong determination. For a century and a half they 

 gathered all knowledge together, which might guide them 

 in their labors. And when the business of orsfanizins: a 

 new government came upon them they found their minds 

 fully enlightened for the great occasion. It is not surpris- 

 ing that at the end of the first century of their national 

 existence, a people thus prepared in the beginning should 

 have exhibited a degree of maturity in all the affairs of 

 life which filled the minds of older nations with astonish- 

 ment. It is not surprising that in all material endeavor 

 such a people should excel. It is not surprising that the 

 product of American ingeuuity and skill should have 

 arrested the attraction of the world, at the International 

 Exhibition, and that in arts, in literature, in machinery, 

 in manufactures, in the general management of the Ex- 

 hibition itself, the American people should have proved a 

 powerful rival in the great world-wide competition. The 

 appeal here is constantly to the wisdom of the people — 

 to that wise instinct which education and responsibility 

 for many generations, have made a ruling characteristic 

 in the American mind, and which has thus far been equal 

 to all necessities, and has guided us through every trial 

 which has hitherto shut down with threatening danger 

 upon the republic. 



In this Great Exhibition, Massachusetts, I am happy to 

 say, performed her part well. She stood foremost in the 

 IDroducts of her industry and skill. Her educational sys- 

 tem was admired by the careful observer and scholar. 

 Her historical exhibit, thanks to this institute, was entirely 

 worthy of her radiant record. Her building, erected by 

 the liberality of her citizens, and designed by me as the 



