6 ADDRESS. 



Discovery, therefore, though the term be disguised by the mode 

 of applying it, has added much to the success of every great 

 interest in every country, and it is in this connection that we 

 propose to show : 



First, by a general outline, what our forefathers have done, 

 with the spirit they evinced ; 



Secondly, what our neighbours have accomplished ; and, 



Lastly, what remains for us to do, and the reasons why we 

 should do it. \ v e " 



, At the commencement of the seventeenth century, the settle- 

 ments of American colonists were but so many watchfires along 

 the shores of the Atlantic, whose light reflected upon the waters 

 by the surrounding forests, invited the seafarer and emigrant, 

 whether allured to our shores by the love of enterprise, or driven 

 to seek refuge in a new world from the political convulsions of 

 the old. In an incredibly short time they became acquainted, not 

 only with the general outline of the coast, but also with our har 

 bours, bays, and rivers, even to the nicest indentations, and with a 

 hardihood and sagacious foresight which has no parallel in history, 

 fitted out exploring expeditions to obtain a more accurate knowl- 

 edge of our shores, when the Indian was prowling around their 

 dwellings, and the population was scarcely sufficiently numerous 

 to raise the necessaries of life. John Smith of Virginia, in 1614, 

 six years before the pilgrims raised their huts on the sands of 

 Plymouth, coasted along the shore from James River to Ports- 

 mouth, and surveyed the harbours and islands of New England. 

 The pilgrims, too, though thinned by an epidemic to nearly half 

 their number, hardly waited for a summer's sun, before they com- 

 menced ship-building, with the intent of exploring the southern 

 coast, and trafficking with the natives. 



In less than half a century, the amount of American tonnage 

 was considerably increased, and had begun to excite, in a slight 

 degree, the jealousy of the mother country, which was afterwards 



